The Friggin' Scab

[Vito]

You know how when you've been up in the mountains for a few days in the summer and the humidity gets down to like 13% and your lips get all chapped and your tongue gets like sandpaper and pretty soon the inside of your nose is so dry that it feels like one of those water holes in the desert that gets baked into cracked mud, and on toppa that your sinuses clog up and you can't breathe and so you try to blow your nose and it starts bleeding, so you manage to get it to stop and then it finally scabs over but the scab really starts to irritate you because you can feel it up in there every time you move your face, and you just wanna reach up in there and scratch the damn thing outa there, but you don't because if you do you know the sumbitch is gonna start bleedin' again, so you live with it for the next few days, but then finally you get the hell outa the mountains and the air isn't so dry any more, and the scab maybe loosens up a little bit, but it still bugs the hell outa ya, and pretty soon you can't stand it any more, so you finally just say to hell with it and you reach up in there and pick that bad boy outa there...and it doesn't bleed? I love when that happens.

 

[Stick]

Spot on Vito! That was a funny read and I do believe I've trod the same path once or twice too. Just goes to show that some things in life just shouldn't be rushed.

 

[Vito]

True story, Stick. Last week.

 

[Richard Burley]

Man, I saw the title and thought this was going to be some union beef. Much to my delight, it's about nose-picking. Excelsior!

 

[AJ]

Oh man! I go to a pipe forum and begin reading and what do I find? A thread on NOSE PICKIN'. :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

AJ

 

[Puff Daddy]

Ah, boogers. You think dry dusty desert air boogers are bad?

I worked as a cook for a long time in my youthful years. Ugh! Boogers borne of greasy deep fryers and char broiler fumes, disgusting!

Then, while I was working through my second attempt at college as a young man I delivered hay and feed on a flatbed truck. Alfalfa boogers! Horrible nasty green things :x

Now, the readymix concrete industry. Hey, when you've dealt with concrete boogers that require a jackhammer to chisel out, then come talk to me about the woes of boogers :evil:

 

[Vito]

Jeez...concrete boogers.

I guess that makes you a hard-core boogermeister, PD.  :mrgreen:

 

[Stick]

Is there scope here for turning this thread into a sticky?

 

[Vito]

Man, I saw the title and thought this was going to be some union beef. Much to my delight, it's about nose-picking. Excelsior!

Richard: Union beef? Whuzzat?

Y'mean the cows are all Teamsters, or something? :mrgreen:

 

[Vito]

Is there scope here for turning this thread into a sticky?

...eewww! ale:

Ah, well...I suppose I asked for it. But for the record, the OP said nothing about actual boogers. It was just an innocent story about scabular angst. Let the record show that I wasn't the one who took it down Booger Lane.

I wash my hands of the whole thang.  :mrgreen:

 

[taharris]

Apparently, boogers are good for your teeth!

http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/the-goo-thats-good-for-teeth/37243

Just thought I would share. No need to thank me. :twisted:

Todd

 

[RDPipes]

What?

 

[Briarbabe]

I will admit to knowing exactly what you are talking about, yes.

 

[Vito]

I will admit to knowing exactly what you are talking about, yes.

Briarbabe: See...I knew I wasn't the only one. And now I know I'm not the only one who'll admit it. :mrgreen:

 

[Bub]

The picking is better if you let your nails grow longer

 

[Vito]

The picking is better if you let your nails grow longer

Hah! Sounds like another admission to me.  :cheers:

Actually, I have to keep my nails kinda short, onna counta guitar. They're cut just right for guitar pickin'. Others prolly don't have that limitation. It's worth it, though. I'd rather pick my guitar than my nose anyway.

 

[artvandelay]

When I read the topic, I expected a rant from a union member on strike. ?

 

[Vito]

When I read the topic, I expected a rant from a union member on strike. ?

The probability that I would ever post such a rant is approximately zero. I believe that people should be compensated commensurate with the value they produce. The concept of the state-enforced union is antithetical to that principle.

I know that's not what most union members believe, but that's because they've been defrauded into believing otherwise by their "leaders"...all of whom are in bed with politicians.

Actually, it's not so much the unions that I object to; rather, I abhor their incestuous relationship with the state. In the long run, the collusion between unions and the state has made things far worse for everyone, but no one has been hurt more than working men and women.

 

[artvandelay]

Personally, I'm of the belief that unions are only good for protecting workers who don't want to do their jobs, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Vito]

Personally, I'm of the belief that unions are only good for protecting workers who don't want to do their jobs, but that's just my opinion.

There's no question that it has evolved to become that in certain places, but it's not a universal condition. There are people who take pride in their work and perform it with integrity who also happen to be union members. I know some personally. In many cases they had no choice; it was either join the union or don't get any work.

I personally have no use for unions, but then there is no union for most of the kind of work I do now. But when I was working full-time as a professional musician, I had no choice. The dues I paid were essentially a bribe to the local to give me a card so I could put my name on contracts and get paid. I never worked for scale; I couldn't support myself on such meager pay. No one worked harder than I did.

The point is that I think it's a mistake to paint everyone who belongs to a union with the same brush and assume that they're all just a bunch of lazy-ass slackers. The fact that unions create conditions that potentiate more pay for less work is a consequence of their reliance on state coercion. Unplug unions from the state and plug them into compensation based on productivity, and the undesirable conditions you mentioned (which do happen) would vanish.