And if you take more of those, you will get an overdose.

  It's Thursday, for what that's worth. I really don't have much to roll with, so we'll just try to fill the space. As we do. Ever since I got the idea for this blog's purpose, nothing's been banging to be written about. Y'all help a poor boy out, huh? There's got to be a bit of esoteric knowledge someone would like more information on.

 Anyhow. A couple of things come to mind. One, there seems to be an issue restaurant owners and managers are having finding workers. They can't get people to work for them, either because they've found something else to do that pays better and/or is more fulfilling, or because they're living good enough on the stimulus check that's a couple of months old. They can't figure out why people don't want to come back to these jobs, be it working in a kitchen, waiting tables, or cleaning dishes.

 Well, for one, they're shit jobs. I've spent the bulk of my adult life working in kitchens and even at the best of times, for someone who actually enjoys cooking, it's a goddamn miserable job. The actual chefs I've known have told me some horror stories about putting in 80 hours a week, but even working a normal 40 is killer. You're on your feet for at least six hours with little or no break, it's hot and you burn yourself no matter how careful you are, and if you cut anything you will wind up slicing a finger open.

 Furthermore, health insurance is almost non-existent even with the ACA. If your boss doesn't shell out for it, it's still probably more than a worker sees each paycheck. And forget about taking days off if you get sick, most bosses aren't down with that at all. And that's in the best of times, not when we're trying to wrestle down a pandemic that could, if not kill you, could permanently scar you if you don't get quality health care. Don't bet on it.

 However, it seems to be beyond the pale to maybe look at raising wages and paying someone enough to live on. People say "these aren't meant to be careers," but I really don't think everyone is interested in a "career." Some people want to spend their free time hunting or playing ball or building guitars or knitting or running RPG's, and the job they hold down just keeps the power on and their bellies full. Hell, most of the time I was a cook it was because I was trying to break into writing somehow or another.

 Look, y'all, the paradigm has changed. Last year caused a lot of scales to fall from the collective eyes. "The way things work" just doesn't work. Capitalism or socialism, it really doesn't matter, things have to change and if employers want people to do the work that makes them money, they're going to have to give a little more than they used to.

 When FDR brought forth the New Deal and when LBJ created the Great Society, they were reacting to circumstances wherein had they left stuff alone, the lower classes would have started slitting throats. People want to claim either were socialist heroes/villains, but that's what it boiled down to. I really believe we at that point now. Billionaires made out like bandits during the pandemic while most of us were wondering if we'd get through the month. Shit's going to have to change.

 Speaking of shit that must change, a kid named Adam Toledo was shot by Chicago police last month. He was 13. At the time, the cops claimed he had a gun and they had no choice. Turns out, the released bodycam showed that not only did he not have a gun but that he had his hands up when he was shot. A cop tries to do something to save the kid's life and he's shown crying at his failure as his bodycam was shut off.

 So there's that there then. In the wake of George Floyd and Daunte Wright, we're still having the discussion over whether or not something needs to be done about police shooting people. One thing that continues to amaze me is how many people are, not to put too fine a point on things, are completely fine with police having the carte blanche to shoot and kill whoever they want whenever they feel like it while rarely suffering any consequences if said shooting victim wasn't actually doing anything that a reasonable person would agree that was worth shooting.

 A lot of it is racism. This is a racist country and we really hate Black people as a country. We're not disputing that nor do we wish to downplay it. However, what's notable to me is how many people would be fine with such behavior being done to them or their loved ones. Think about that, they would be fine with being shot and killed - or their loved one - by police, even if it was a mistake. 

 Whether they really mean it or not, that's what they live by. They think that's how society should be and how authority should treat the rest of us. I don't know what to think about all that nor what to do about it. The same people who howl about the First Amendment are fine with Their President/Congress shutting down speech or limiting the ability to protest.

 That's built into the American character, as part of our natural psyche as thinking we're right about everything or that the story's all about us. I really don't know what we can do about that.