There are some of us who don’t like stress.

The natural belief

is to think

it can be avoided by doing low-level tasks

without much responsibility,

but low-level managers

make low-level tasks

impossible.

They have an insatiable need for power.

While the good ones get promoted

and satisfied

—the bad ones

exercise their will on anyone they can

because

they are lazy.

Stupid, Slothful, People

are the reason for most of our misery.

Employees make the mistake

of working an easy job

thinking, it will be easy

but

they don’t consider

who they will be working with.

It is better to be in a position of responsibility

where the professionals

can’t fake it.

Stress seldom comes from what we do

and almost always comes from the people we work with.

I have a membership at a golf course

and the guys in the pro shop

have been giving me a hard time.

“You have to check-in,” the guy said. I was finishing hole 9.

“There wasn’t anybody in the pro shop,” I came back.

“Well, technically—the golf course is closed, if there’s nobody in the pro shop, but we don’t like to be assholes about that.”

Really? I thought.

With these types, it’s better just to acknowledge them, and walk away.

I went to the back 9, and the guy came out of the pro shop. “You need to check-in,” he said.

“Okay.”

“Did you pay?”

“I’m a preferred member.”

“We appreciate your membership, but we need to know who is on the golf course,” he said.

“I understand.”

After 18, I went home and took a shower. I was lying in bed and had the crazy idea that I wanted to play golf again.

When I went into the pro shop, the guy said, “Did you play golf earlier this morning?”

“Yes,” I said.

“You need to check-in at the pro shop.”

“You know, you’re the third guy who told me that.”

I probably shouldn’t have talked back, but I was annoyed.

I teed off, and when I finished 9, I walked back into the pro shop, to fill-up my water bottle.

“Did you tee-off the front 9,” the guy asked me.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Read the sign. It says to tee-off the back.”

“I didn’t see your sign,” I said.

These guys of the pro shop act like their schedule is a science.

Later, I cursed the golf course into ruin with my voodoo golf swing.