#323 What it is

I used to know this guy in college. He seemed to think he was the next best thing as far as catch phrases. I guess to some extent he may have been successful. One day he came in saying “what it is?” rather than “what’s up?” For a while there we all said it jokingly, and then people started to just say it. Good slang’s like that—easy to say. Some combination of syllables, rhythm, inflection, and phonemes that never got combined before and like the notes in a new hit tune just seem to fit so naturally you find yourself flinging them out on the street or humming them in the elevator. Jimmy Jet had another phrase. Never really caught on. “Sometimes you can’t win for losing. Sometimes you can’t go wrong. But it all evens out in the end.” That’s what I tell myself every day. That and “believe in humanity but keep your expectations low.”
Things shift on you. The concept of service comes and goes like the tide. Remember when all the big banks were going automated and were even starting to charge for teller services. Remember when people started withdrawing in droves. Well, banks are opening on weekends again, and they’re advertising that the have more tellers and lots of things are free. Of course, they still want the majority of people to do online banking, but apparently, they’ve found a way to put back in the bennies as well. Free checking was just the beginning. Some of the banks now even have free checks and a precious few are actually sending your checks back to you again or at least digital photocopies—also for free. Maybe someday the carbon copy check will join the Atari video game in the landfill.
So that’s why I’m hoping the airlines, those fine cattle herders of the skies, will turn around again sometime soon. I understand fuel prices are killing them. But now that we can bring electric shavers back on the airplanes, I think the airlines need to start the courtship process to bring us back to the friendly skies. Cause it’s pretty pitiful up there. You can fly from LA to Seattle these days and not get a meal. Some airlines don’t even let you have nuts. There has to be a way. Is it possible to create another class of riders? I mean does it have to be Taj Mahal spacious super first class or crowded as an industrial chicken shed coach? I’d think someone who’d pay 5 bucks for a latté would pay an extra 10 bucks for a meal on an airplane. My sister just flew up from California and she gave me what the airline gave her for a snack. A piece of bread. Mostly Muffin bread it was called. Had nuts in it. What they give you to drink I asked. She held up a small bottle of pseudo-spring water. All right, I observed, bread and water. Service is coming back they’ve already upgraded to the amenities of a jail. What it is? It all evens out in the end.
America, ya gotta love it.