Two Agonist-Antagonist Rants
First I need to give a little explanation regarding the title of this article. I am currently studying human anatomy for a future business venture which will start sometime in the spring of 2015. One of the first things I learned in class were the terms of motion for muscles. Agonist muscles and antagonist muscles refer to muscles that cause or inhibit a movement. Sometimes these muscles come in pairs called antagonistic pairs; while one muscle contracts the other relaxes. For example: the biceps and triceps are such an antagonistic pair - the triceps relaxes while the biceps contracts to lift the arm.
My intention is not to put my audience to sleep, so bear with me a bit longer. Sometimes in life we come across pairs of actions, unrelated to anatomy, that exhibit similar, antagonistic effects.
Consider two things that really annoy me (for previous posts of rants, go here):
- People at the fast-food drive-through who, after they get their order, take forever to drive away, so that I can get my stuff before it becomes indigestible.
- Finding out after you get home that the fast-food worker forgot your order of fries or whatever, forcing you to go back.
So here we have an antagonistic pair of rants: if I am the annoying person (to the driver behind me) taking forever to leave because I am checking to make sure that everything I ordered is actually in all the bags, then I avoid rant #2. And vice-versa, if I dash off without checking my order, then I open myself up to a possible return trip.
I Don't want to be the Annoying Guy in #1, But...
Let me first say that I have tried to be the considerate guy and drive off without checking immediately, then park the car in the fast-food lot and check my order there. I don't do this if it's raining because that means I'll have to get back in the line and perhaps wait longer to get my missing items or if I don't get in line, then I am forced to leave the car, walk in the rain to go inside if it's open, and complain there.
Even if it's not raining and I have my 4 year-old grandson with me, I then have to take him out of the carseat and go inside with him. If I don't check my order right at the drive window, one way or another, I will spend extra time. So I don't do the considerate thing.
There's almost a dozen in my household and invariably my order will contain at least a dozen or two items and so it's no piece of cake. Of course if one is ordering a single sandwich and a soda, it's easy enough to see that you got everything.
The Annoying Single Sandwich and Soda Guy
However, I sometimes see the driver in front of me receiving a single soda and a small bag, and yet still take interminable eons to leave. They count their change, put the coins into the change compartment of their billfold, put the wallet in a back pocket or purse, put the receipt into a small folder, secure the fast-food bag with a bungee cord to their passenger seat, strip the paper off the straw and insert it into the soda, make sure the soda doesn't wobble in the cup-holder, re-buckle the seat-belt, re-position the rear-view mirror, make one final visual check of the vehicle to make sure nothing was stolen while waiting for his or her order, put it in drive, look left, look right, look up, look back and then, ever sooooooooooooo slowly, infuriatingly, finally, drive off.
Regarding people counting their change - another rant of mine. Credit cards people, credit cards - and yes even for a 2 buck purchase (see annoyance #13 in my article 13 Things That Annoy Me at the Supermarket).
