3/28/07-Probabilities 2

Maintenance or NOT?

Here at Nobreakdowns.com, we travel a lot. Sometimes we sit in airports, watching the people walk by, all busy and puffed up about their jobs. That's exactly how we get some of our best material for this newsletter and other products.

One of the oddest things lately has been the boom of people walking around wearing these ridiculous earpieces that let them talk on their wireless phones without using their hands.

It's not so much that the idea is bad, but that people wear these things 24/7, like they MUST be available at a moment's notice, or the world will end. Come on! Not many people have a job so important that they need a permanent telecommunications device implanted in their head. If you DO need this, I am impressed, my friend! Still, I'll bet the world would function just fine if you spontaneously combusted.

Even funnier is the pompous looks you get from people wearing earpieces, like you are less important because you don't have a plastic cockroach feasting on your ear. I have even seen people take a 3-1/2 hour flight with an earpiece on, and never remove it, even though we KNOW they couldn't have taken a call.

The manufacturers of these silly things say that they are stylish, exclusive, cool and sleek. Those are not the words I would use. How about foolish, unnecessary, nerdy and clunky? I am having a hard time imagining such a doofus-attracting thing ever catching on with maintenance people. Please don't disappoint me, folks.

Oh, and what about actually being able to HEAR with your ear? In addition to all of this, I can't get used to someone standing alone, talking out loud like a madman, only to realize he is "on the phone". They seem to be unaware that everyone around them can hear them ordering Viagra with a credit card.