The Year of Blame

Just before the new year, The Bat and I were at a nicer seafood joint in a nicer part of town. We had been there before and ate a lovely meal of fried everything. We don't eat fried food that often, but this was a nice treat. Non-greasy fried food is hard to come by. The second time around was good, but not as good as the first.

The couple in an adjacent booth had ordered a bottle of wine and it came out in an ice bucket. This wine bucket was on a stand (I've never seen a table top model) in the aisle by their table. A woman who was leaving plowed into it, sending ice and wine all over the floor. Everyone just stared at it for a bit. The woman said "Well who put that there?" What the hell? That's where wine buckets go moron. The guy who was with the woman picked the bottle up and said, "Oh, there wasn't much in it." Sure, not after your water buffalo of a wife knocked it over. The couple then just shuffled out. After a minute the waiter came by to clean up and got them two glasses of replacement wine. So all ended well.

I was clearly (sarcasm) not her fault and even it was no big loss, it was empty anyway. They should have offered to replace the wine. Hell, they should have at least apologized.

This made me realize no one takes blame any more. Everything is some one else's fault or the situation is to blame or it is a flaw in the materials. Sure sometimes it is these things, but some times it is just YOU. Maybe you put yourself in that situation or you were using something out of spec.

So I ask you, in 2008, stop and consider that it might just be YOUR FAULT. If it is, be a decent human being and own it. Don't blame God or Fate or Luck or the Force.