THE FOOLS

There were two incidents happened this past weekend that Mr. T could have featured in his new reality television show for TV Land, I Pity the Fool, scheduled to premiere Wednesday, October 11, 2006.

Mr. T is an actor who is well-known for his roles as Sgt. Bosco "B.A." Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team and as a boxer playing opposite of Rocky in the 1982 film. His trademark is the distinctive Mohawk hairstyle he adopted because the style is of an African Mandinka warrior.

This past weekend, my workplace conducted a weekend retreat with the Board of Directors at a conference center at Lake of the Ozarks. We requested a full breakfast buffet since the meetings started at 7:00 a.m. We asked the banquet staff to remove the food at 9:00 a.m. but leave the coffee and refreshment until the meetings were over at 11:30 a.m. On Friday morning, the staff promptly removed the breakfast at 9:00 a.m. As instructed, the coffee pots remained in the room but there were no coffee mugs. It took about 15 minutes before the hotel staff brought back the cups as well as the creamer and sugar for the coffee.

The next day, the breakfast buffet was ready at 7:00 a.m. but there were no plates, utensils nor napkins. Again, we had to notify the hotel staff and it took another 15 minutes before plates, utensils were provided. When I registered my disappointment with the Conference Manager, she apologized for the mixed-up claiming that the person who was assigned to take care of our group did not come to work on Friday and was late on Saturday. I was not satisfied with her reason. Whoever was responsible for the setting should know that the guests needed plates and utensils to eat their breakfast and cups to drink coffee. How else would the guests drink the coffee or eat scramble eggs?

The second incident was at a shopping outlet. Believe it or not, I don't care much for shopping. I don't spend a lot of my vacation time at a mall. My husband and I had an hour to spend together before his (golf) scheduled tee time. After breakfast, we stopped by a shopping outlet. C went into a tool shop and I just started walking around. A woman in a wheelchair struggled to open the door of an American Eagle outlet. These doors were not automatic and definitely not handicapped accessible. Two young people, male and female, stood nearby chatting and laughing. I rushed over and opened the door for the woman. How could the young people not seeing the woman in the wheelchair needed help?

Common courtesies are the foundation of a civilized society. What happened to good manners? Don't people use to words Please, Thank You, and Excuse Me, anymore? Are we all turning into Fools?