Friday, October 08, 2010

Burn Baby, Burn

By now, everyone has probably read about the family in Tennessee whose house burned down while the firemen from the nearest municipality looked on.  The man had forgotten to pay the $75.00 fee required of people outside of town, in order to receive the service. 

Of course, the pundits have been appalled that the fire department refused to help, and I do agree that they should have fought the fire, especially after the man agreed to pay the fee on the spot.  What was amusing was watching the pundits sputter and spit with outrage, because they, in their little bubbles, had never heard of such an outrage.  They didn't know that many municipalities have the same rules, all over the country.

Now, the man's son has been appearing on the talk shows explaining that his family is willing to accept donations that have been offered. I wondered how long it would take.  Cynical me.  But, that's not my business.    

Here's what I think the fire department should have done. This isn't my business, either, but you knew I'd have an opinion, didn't you?  Sure you did.  I think they should have fought the fire and then sent the guy a whopping bill for the amount of money it cost the city.  Certainly, it would have amounted to more than $75.00.  Then, maybe the guy would remember to pay up next year, and so might a bunch of other home owners who thought the fire department would show up whether they paid or not.  Problem solved. 

OBTW, how do you like the "new blogger" format?  I like added choices across the top of the page, but there are problems.  When I hit enter to change paragraphs, the cursor goes everywhere but down.  What's up with that?  C'mon, Blogger, get the lead out and get the bugs out of this new format!  Also, adding an image is more complicated.  The Blogger techs are just like all the other computer nerds I have ever met.  They can't just develop a good product and then leave it alone.  Tweak, tweak, tweak, fix, fix, fix, every few weeks or months.  Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

Furthermore, while you're fixing, why is it that Blogger tries to anticipate what I want to type in "Labels?" Blogger is never right.  Leave that alone, too!

Stay tuned. 

4 comments:

The Idiot Speaketh said...

I like the new look! I had not heard about that incident with the fire. Being with a bunch of professional firefighters for the past weeks, I think they're philosophy would have been "put out the fire first and then worry about the other stuff afterwards".

Arkansas Patti said...

We have a similar, volunteer firefighter system here. You pay $35.00 a year and if you need a fire put out and you haven't paid, you are hit with a $500.00 bill.
That was enough for me to fork over the $35.00.
Otherwise, no one would pay till their house caught on fire. That town should have had an alternative also.

Darlene said...

I agree that Blogger is a mess. I have all sorts of complaints and troubles with it. The more they try to improve it, the worse it gets.

Kay Dennison said...

I think the guy was nuts not to pay. That said, I also believe in people having to suffer the consequences of their choices in their life. God knows I have had to suffer many consequences in mine and I try to do so without whining too much.

As to the new look, I'm not entirely happy with it. Getting everything changed is a pain in the culo (Spanish for a**). The old way was easier. I'm tired of being their guinea pig.