It was 8:15 and I was I the bath getting all cleaned up and ready to log in for the day and take calls then I hear this giant explosion from outside somewhere. It sounded as if a bomb went off instead all the electricity went off. Since all of my phones except one (very sad excuse for a phone [that is not even hooked up]) and not having a computer to log in and out with, this left Johnny and I pretty much unable to work so we decided to go have breakfast since I couldn’t cook it due to the electricity being out and we were kind of worried about the cause of the outage as it was soooo loud.
First we stopped at the electric company and found out it was a transformer that “exploded” then as we passed our street we saw the cause; there had been a fender bender at a pole.
We figured it would be a while so we decided to go to I.H.O.P for breakfast. As I am eating my crepes Florentine and he the death by cholesterol burger (a bacon cheese burger with an easy over egg on it) I notice the yolk burst and start pouring onto his plate and he put his head down some to let it fall to the plate a little less grossly which is when I noticed this guy and his tongue. It caught my eye because he was licking the outside of his drink glass with the greatest of passion not missing even the bottom of the glass. I was kinda freaked and then looked and saw he had downs syndrome and I was not astonished anymore. I understand they have problems and at first I had not known this person had downs I just saw a tongue and a cup. Then I see the guy next to him turn his head and sneeze not covering his mouth and when he turned his head back I saw that he to was mentally ill and he wiped his snot off on his hands.
They were both wearing the same shirt as a lady they were with who was at another table with her back turned to them as they continued to fold silverware, snot hand and the young man who just took a drink out of the glass he was licking. When she turned I saw she was wearing a badge on a lanyard and was their “supervisor” and they were from what I over hear on their work-study program from school which while that in itself is a wonderful idea I did not wipe the look of horror off my face quick enough as I ordered just what I has eaten.
Johnny begins asking what’s wrong and I quickly return to eating what is left telling the germ-o-phobe I will tell him when we leave which was the wrong thing to say. He hounded me until I told him the stricken look on his face was indescribable. I was lucky to get him out of there without a scene.
After I assured him I would talk to the manager, not the lady who let this happen because she was not paying attention. We left with the assurances that the silverware would be rewashed.
These assurances did not leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy about ever eating there again because while I think it is great to have mentally challenged people in work programs after what I saw I am very sure I do not want them doing my food service.
I felt weird even complaining like they would think I did not like retarded people or something but fuck! It was gross! Was I wrong?
Holly
4 comments on Does Everyone Really Need to Work?
Add a comment
To add comments without entering your email and image verification, you must be logged in. Login or Join Blogster
[LOL][LOL][LOL][LOL]
The thing about a lot of mentally challenged people is that they may take a longer time to comprehend their duties, but once they get it, they tend to be almost anal about following things to the letter, and are often very compliant as well unless you continually abuse and piss them off, in which case they can sometimes start sabotaging their work under the table... at least that is true of the mentally handicapped people I know. But if the relationship is based on firm boundaries yet also respect and trust, mentally handicapped people can thrive in many jobs. There are even people with downs syndrome that have done work in data entry, acting, and other jobs that require more brain-power. Not all people with downs' are even retarded, actually. There are a few who are only slightly below average intelligence, and often this is because they were put in special programs when they were young. People don't realize to what extent mental retardation can be worked around.
You couldn't put my uncle in front of a register or have him deal with customers (he has poor social boundaries), but he definitely understands the nature of order, cleanliness, etc.
I don't think you were wrong to report the cleanliness issue. That was just gross. So long as it doesn't make you now conclude that all mentally handicapped people can't do any job at all, and should just be put in homes... what's the big deal? I would have probably done the same.