cheech

I don't think salary makes anyone beter/worse, more/less deserving, enviable/pitiable, etc. than anyone else. i'm not sure if you misunderstand some of my posts. I was implying that I don't see a demographic element in the encounter, nor a racial element --all three sanitation workers were white & there was no mistaking the one who glowered's glowering for anything but a glower. I grant myself at least that much subjectivity & trust that not all intuition is prejudgement.

I work for the organization most responsible for putting the concept of political correctness on the map & think it's easy for us overeducated folk to fall into the trap of taking pc too far, where "garbage man" has a negative social implication and the 'sub' in subway implies that the masses who ride 'under' ground are a subhuman underclass --I have been questioned on the latter --luckily I answered wisely.
I wish I was like bowie, "much too fast to take that test," but I'm not and can't suppress or fake it like the majority of those I meet.
I was born --lucky me-- (kinks reference) and have lived in manhattan most of my life. you cannot live here for 26 years and not notice social change. nyc is, among millions of other things, an accelerated and reliable indicator of the social trends of the rest of --relatively-- integrated north american society. along with social change come changes (another bowie reference?) in how people think others should "see" and speak about the world, to the point that someone so attuned can be on the verge of what might be termed 'exploding-head syndrome.'

remember my post about the iraq-war veteran? If you are blessed --and cursed-- with awareness of the context of everyday behavior and events occuring around you, you must always be on point. in a hyper-paced town where predispositions are many people's way of coping and making their way through the dominant koyaanisqatsi, it can be daunting for those of a contemplative disposition who may not be capable always of 'thinking on their feet,' who are not yet 'enlightened' and properly buddhified, not yet in a perpetual state of concentration without elimination --speaking of which,

Santa Claus got BBQ sauce in the drawers.