Donald Trump is
gloating about defeating an 87-year-old Chicago grandmother in court over a
condominium; Trump’s bloviating is easier to take since we now know Trump’s
penis is only three inches long. (Psst. I have no idea how long Trump’s penis
is, I just made a side bet of $1 mil. I can get him to show it to us)
Dear Snotty Pharmacists:
Listen, I know you think you're a doctor? But you're just a guy who takes peoples orders and fills them, like they do at McDonalds. The difference is, if a clerk at McDonalds rudely told me to come back and get my order in an hour, they would be fired.
Since you asked:
Lex's' Bullying Story, #2.
One summer, when
I was in just-after-Fourth grade, my parents sent me to the North Shore Baseball School.
NSBS. All the cool kids went to NSBS. The problem? I was two years younger than
the age limit. But, because I was a big kid and because my mother wanted me out
of the house during the day, I was enrolled.
This was a huge
mistake for two reasons: One, I was terrified of older kids. My brother was
four years older than me and was horribly bullied due to his being extremely
near-sighted, terribly uncoordinated and un-athletic. So it was my opinion
all older kids were mean and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
They were
mean as hell to me. You want someone to pick on you? Show them you're afraid.
In addition, at
the tender age of 8, I was not a good baseball player. By eighth grade I had
willed myself into a pretty good first baseman with a good glove, lots of power
and speed. But at age 8, I was below average at baseball for even my age and
way below average for a camp full of mostly 12-year-olds who loved baseball.
You can't even begin to overstate the difference, physically and mentally, between a shy 8-year-old and cocky, athletic 12-year-olds. (yes, believe it or not, I was shy)
So the natural
result was I was the proverbial kid always picked last.
One day I
wasn’t picked last, I wasn’t picked at all. Too embarrassed to draw
attention to myself, I just spent the day sitting in the stands. Our “counselors” were just high school baseball players who were as qualified to
instruct kids as my dog, Charlie. Maybe less.
Well, sure
enough, two of the meaner 12-year-olds decided it would be fun to beat up the
big eight-year-old kid who stunk at baseball. Why not? And, like I had seen my
brother before me, I just stood there and took it while quietly crying.
Now
keep in mind, this is North suburban Chicago bullying, not Southside bullying.
They stole my hat. Punched me in the arm, stole my glove. Pushed me down. Stole my bike and ditched it. Now
and again the stomach punch that would knock all the wind out of me. Whatever it took to make me cry so they could make fun of the fact I was crying.
Nothing in
the face. That was the unwritten rule.
One day the
whole camp went to a Chicago Cubs game. Although I wasn’t yet a huge Cubs fan
yet –that would change in a coupld of years in Sixth grade - going to Wrigley Field with my Dad was a great
experience and is still a cherished memory.
But it wasn’t
fun going with the two kids who picked on me. This day on a Cubs field trip they decided to really
ramp up the bullying. Something about the excitement of the Cubs game and the counselors
wanting to watch the game and not us, really made the two bullies want to beat the crap
out of me.
And they did. Like it was yesterday, I remember just sitting in my seat with one of them in back of me punching repeatedly in the back. And then it
happened.
Later, while standing in the concession line, one of them knocked my full 7-Up out
of my hands. That was it. My Keds sneakers were soaked. He just stood in front of me with a “Well, what are
you going to do about it?” look on his face. This would prove to be a mistake. Loved me some 7-Up, I surely did.
Without ever
having done it before, I wound up and slapped him as hard as I could across his
face with my open hand. Just like a discus thrower right before the release. The sound of the slap was as loud as the crack of the
ball coming off a baseball bat. My entire palm stunk like I fell on the pavement falling off my bike. He went flying back like a cartoon character
with his high top Converse sneakers flying up in the air.
Clearly I had
violated the no-face agreement big time.
I’ll never
forget, he landed so hard on his back that he bounced his head on the dirty Wrigley Field cement.
Hard. His Cubs hat went flying. Everyone froze. The kid I smacked was so stunned, he didn’t even cry.
Everyone was shocked, including me. He just sat there holding his head and rocking. Then my bully-turned-victim’s cobwebs cleared and
he started balling loudly and I got in big-ass trouble.
My hand-print looked like it was painted in red on his left cheek.
Yes, he was four
years older than me, but like with most bullies, he was small for his age. Yes,
I was banned from going to the next Cubs game. Yes, I got in big trouble with
my Mom. (Turns out the bully I almost knocked out was her friend’s kid)
But guess who
never got picked on for the rest of that summer? And was I ever picked last for
baseball ever again? Was I?
Well, yeah, sure, I still sucked at baseball.
That didn’t change with a slap.
But nobody
bullied me again.