This Sunday after some late afternoon errands we found ourselves in Qdoba at supper time. We typically sit at one of the tall tables because it’s what we are accustomed to at home. Out in the parking/driving area of the outside mall Qdoba is in we watched two young women walk past. One wore winter clothing and the other was without a coat or jacket. Now this has been a week of negative number temperatures and bigger negative number wind chills. Wind chills today were in double digit negative numbers pretty much all day. So someone walking around outside without a coat or jacket does not make me wonder about their sanity. They’re certifiable and that’s that.

The two women strolled into Qdoba carrying two liter jugs of soda and a box with a Little Caesar’s pizza. They picked a table and proceeded to eat the pizza and drink the soda.

OK, I admit I’m offspring of a rough around the edges dirt farmer and by choice held onto some roughness myself. When we traveled dad would always buy something where ever we stopped for rest rooms. Maybe he was rough around the edges but at least he was refined enough to appreciate that even freebies have a price.

So while I continue scratching my head and asking WTF maybe someone can enlighten me. What kinda gonads does it take to be that kind of jerk?

Shortly after we were seated a family of four got seated at a table next to us.  It was hard not to notice the two boys (approximately 5 and 6 years of age) following their parents.  Each boy was far to occupied with their portable game units to pay attention to anything else.  Once seated the gaming continued through the ordering and until their food was place before them.  Mom and dad conversed approximately as much.  With food in front of them, each parent dutifully cut up pancakes and made sure the boys didn’t overflow syrup onto the table. Conversation remained sparse during their entire meal and soon as the boys finished eating their game units were once again activated.

Please don’t misunderstand me here, if I were to get started with one of those game things it would probably be all over but the shouting for some time.  At the same time I look back on my childhood (OK, maybe it was so long ago that memory is seriously fogged) and wonder how mom and dad would have reacted to that sort of lack of interaction at meal time.  Not acceptable comes to mind.

Then there are the pre-teens and beyond that are much too involved with texting to engage in verbal conversation with their parents.  The big question is do the parents give them the cellphone so they don’t have to talk with their kids or what is the deal?  Observing how little some parents and offspring communicate with each other from such early ages really frightens me.

That’s the Newcastle Brown Ale moment for tonight.