Nuisances
I once had a job where it was not at all uncommon for the men to just be not there on Friday afternoons. Because they were playing golf.
As part of our run-up to raising hell about this practice my co-worker (let’s call her Lesli) and I decided that we should first take golf lessons. And, further, we decided to talk about our golf lessons all the time, in front of the boys’ club of golfers. That would, we reckoned, make our exclusion from the group even more noticeable, and even those self-absorbed idiots would figure it out and we could look forward to golfing on Fridays.
The part of the plan that we failed to account for was this: we didn’t really like those guys (I mentioned, didn’t I, that they were self-absorbed idiots?) and spending an afternoon on the course with them was far worse than spending an afternoon at work while they were golfing.
But, there’s this: Lesli decided that our personal goal for our golfing career should be to “suck consistently.” And I am proud to report that we are now able, through diligent practice, to achieve that goal.
There’s also this: neither of us still work at that place. We are much better off.
Abandoned Miniature Golf Course
Slaton, Texas
photographed 2.16.2013
Posted on March 3, 2013, in Photography and tagged 365 photo project, abandoned buildings, black and white photography, melinda green harvey, miniature golf, one day one image, photo a day, photography, slaton, slaton texas, texas. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
One Day | One Image 
Just to be clear, these guys were idiots because they were golfers (as opposed to guys/men)?
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Sorry for the confusion. They were just idiots. Not gender- or game-based – they were just straight-up idiots. Some people are just like that….
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I agree that idiots can be, and often are, public nuisances. Nice irony in the graffiti.
I was also struck by the comments on your facebook account where you posted this – guy golfers seem a bit like, well, golfers, and guys. Interesting responses. I too would feel excluded if exposed to an activity like that which gives special fun access to the boss and from which one is excluded by virtue of not playing the game, and in this case by gender too as these idiots clearly did not want female company. Besides, I am sure they thought somebody had to answer the phones, even if highly paid professionals, to make it clear that they had not closed for the afternoon.
In my office, which is staffed with professionals except for two people at the front desk, when they are away and the phones need answering it is always the women that get the task. I have never been asked in nearly 20 years. And that is with a female boss, who thankfully does not play golf.
It is very poor management that sets things up like this, and it encourages swathes of society to hate the game for the way it is (mis-)used in the work place.
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As soon as I saw the graffiti, I knew what I was going to write! In fact, all three of the golf essay mostly wrote themselves while I was shooting.
I was sort of surprised by some of the FB comments! Guess us “gals” don’t get the way things are supposed to work. But, maybe, if we had a spa day we could talk about our feelings and blah blah blah…. I had plenty of feminist-theory responses to that FB guy, but decided (1) he wasn’t worth it and (2) he wouldn’t understand it anyway.
Last week, I went to a retirement reception for someone at the City of Lubbock. His female staff served cake. His male staff mingled and shook hands and so forth. So, that gives us two tasks the gals can handle – answering phones and putting pieces of cake onto paper plates.
Golf was but one example of poor management at that job. It was a complete boys’ club.
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Love those shadows and hidden corners! How absolutely dramatic, Melinda!!
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Thanks – I was happy to have wandered around enough to find this golf course!
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