COMMENTARY & OPINION

From the desk of

Bill Ramey

10 19 18

COMMENTARY & OPINION

OCCASIONALLY WE NEED TO PAUSE AND LOOK AT OURSELVES AND CHUCKLE.

HAVE YOU EVER KNOWN A DAWDLER?  PERHAPS YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A DAWDLER IS.  A DAWDLER IS "ONE WHO DAWDLES".

DAWDLING IS AN ART THAT IS ACQUIRED OVER MANY YEARS AND IT'S TOTALLY UNPRODUCTIVE UNLESS IT IRRITATES, AGGRAVATES OR INFURIATES SOMEONE ELSE.

Dawdlers can be observed in restaurants, in the grocery store or even in traffic.  In restaurants, the dawdler is the one (in a party of six) who is still talking after everyone else has finished eating and only begins eating when he/she sees others in their party looking at their watches. 

In the grocery store, the dawdler can be observed going slowly down aisles while his/her mate or driver walks slowly behind as the dawdler picks up items at random, examines closely and then puts it back on the shelf and proceeds to the next item. 

In traffic, you can see them talking on a cell phone, swinging to music or studying the clouds after the light has turned green. 

If you honk, they invariably get agitated and may give you a one finger salute. 

Dawdlers are not patient people even though, it would seem, their hobby is keeping others waiting.  When they are kept waiting, you can see them pacing, tapping their fingers on a chair arm and constantly looking at a timepiece. 

This world if full of dawdlers.  Once you become aware of them, you can see them everywhere.  They are not limited to any one particular level of education.  I've noted them among phds, and also among the uneducated.  I have noted them among white collar workers, blue collar workers and common laborers as well. 

Dawdlers are those who, when you are headed out the door to go to dinner, suddenly realize there is something he/she has to do in the garden/bathroom/kitchen or somewhere and pretends to hurry to do that little chore.

Dawdlers are unforgiving of other dawdlers --- "How dare they waste my time!"  And they are unforgiving of any who would presume to hold up a mirror so they can see themselves as dawdlers. 

My 'take" on dawdlers is that it begins with the objective being "one upmanship" and the target being a mate or "friend" he/she wants to irritate, aggravate or infuriate without it appearing blatantly intentional.

As time progresses and it becomes habitual, the target expands to the world and all those morons who resent being "dawdled".

Could it be that dawdler has been abbreviated "NPC"? 

So consider me a "Watchbird" watching dawdlers.  Are you a dawdler?