Ran into an old work acquaintance, GZ, who moved to another division, and was reminded of a story.
When working in the same office, we quickly found out we grew up in the same rural neighborhood some 200 miles away. Okay, he’s 10 years older than me, but nonetheless. He knew some of my older cousins. We both laughed because “…no one is from there…”, yet here we were working in the same place a state away.
Now, GZ’s hobby… and back up, deputy, adjacent, assistant job… is to referee football and basketball games for local high schools. Now, GZ is a smart man, but not worldly. And he freely admits such, emphasizing the point with the following story.
GZ was a referee in a junior high school (middle school, in some parlances) girls’ basketball game. One school was from ‘this side of the tracks’… squeaky clean, middle class, young ladies. The other school was from ‘the other side of the tracks’…cigarette smoking, tattoo bearing, tough-as-nails thug-ettes.
The game was hard fought, with the lead passing back and forth between the two teams. Maybe because it was so close, maybe because of the differences in social background, maybe “just because”… things got a little feisty between the girls.
Now, as a referee, GZ is charged with not only ensuring the game is played fairly within the rules, but also must make sure a level of sportsmanship is maintained as well. After a particularly nasty interchange between some girls near the ‘this side of the tracks’ bench, one of their coaches complained to GZ – –
Squeaky Clean Coach – “Hey, Ref! You need to get control here. You need to throw out that one girl. She just called one of my players a ‘Ho!’ right in front of me.”
Referee GZ – “So what? What should I care that the other team is calling your player a garden tool name?”
And those of us listening to GZ’s story? <blink>… <blink>… <blink>…
Nothing more to be said.
Tags: friends from home, fun with homonyms, garden variety ho, naivety lives
The Wilds of Ohio 
February 18, 2009 at 02:36 |
I’ll bet he wouldn’t have been so casual about it if she’d called her a spade.
February 18, 2009 at 10:11 |
Ho-riffic. And i thought my profession had the corner on the clueless market…
February 18, 2009 at 13:06 |
Guileless innocence.
I think it’s kind of sweet.
February 18, 2009 at 20:35 |
Laughing at kyknoord.
gnu: what if GZ did that on purpose? Aren’t we taught to defuse charged emotional situations with humour?
That’s the way I see it, anyway.
February 18, 2009 at 23:30 |
kyknoord – oo, good call. i’m sure even he couldn’t have let that one go by.
daisyfae – well, wait… i think he IS an enginerd… nope, damn… a program mangler like me.
Miss P – and he is a likable kinda guy. just good natured. so, while as a guy i can’t use the word “sweet” in reference to another guy, i do understand your sentiment.
Rob – well, i’d tend to give him the benefit of the doubt… but then he went on to explain to us he DIDN’T know… oh well. at least he took it as a lesson learned.
February 23, 2009 at 04:28 |
Oh, my goodness, he must live so deep in the mushroom farm they have to pipe oxygen to him.