Poop Shute

Classic Case

So, I'm driving along with David and John tonight and we pull alongside a cliche. A middle-aged guy driving a shiny, sleek, new sports coupe with a pretty blonde chick. BMW something or other.

Now, I try to see humor in everything, and with this it isn't hard. You always hear stories about married executive guys hitting their midlife crises and doing one or more of the following:

- buying a tiny over-priced sports car
- getting tattoos and/or piercings
- getting a hot young girlfriend on the side
- bailing on their executive job and/or wife and kids

I laugh and point this guy out to David and John.

Immediately, they gotta rain on my parade. They say things like "what if that's his daughter and he just got the car for her as a gift" or "what if it's a friend's car and he's just taking it for a spin."

They leap to defending this man as though I had aimed a loaded gun at his head.

sigh

Whether or not there is an alternative explanation, the image he presented to me was a man living out a stereotype. You always hear the stories, but I, for one, have never seen it in action. For me it was humorous. And it's not a malicious humor.

It's not "hey look at the dumb asshole, boy is he a schmuck! Ha ha ha."

It's more "Hey, there's That Guy! Wow, I've never seen That Guy before! Funny."

We know these stereotypes come from sonewhere. I mean, even the worst stereotypes have some kernel of truth in them, however small. It's just rare to see one of their sources.