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Paul Burri: Proud to Be a Curmudgeon
A reader recently commented on one of my columns, accusing me of being a complainer and a curmudgeon. My response to that reader? “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I guess I have finally achieved a lifelong goal: Paul Burri, curmudgeon. After more than 79 years, it’s no more Mr. Nice Guy for me.
Actually, I consider myself a nice guy, it’s just that I can’t help thinking that a lot of life’s petty annoyances annoy other people, too. Besides, who would read my stuff if I never said anything that was controversial? Would you read my columns if I was always “sweetness and light” about everything?
Do you know who my heroes are? Andy Rooney, Will Rogers, Mark Twain and some stuff by H.L.Mencken (“All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it”), and they are — or were — always complaining about one thing or another.
I believe we learn more from adversity than we do when things go according to plan. When things go wrong, we are forced to act differently or take action to correct the situation. When things go as expected, we have no reason to change whatever it is we are doing. Wouldn’t life be awfully boring without some challenges? Shouldn’t we welcome situations that require us to change or to find a different response? Shouldn’t we welcome the things that make life difficult — and interesting?
For many years when running my business, the things that made it all worthwhile — aside from the money — were the everyday challenges that stretched my mind to solve and surmount. Now that the business is sold, I need to look for other things to complain about and try to fix.
Speaking of complaining, here are a few more of my pet peeves:
» People who say “Paul who?” when I call and tell them it’s Paul.
» Sigalerts that tell me about a traffic tie-up — when I’m already sitting in the middle of it.
» Box boys at the supermarket who put the tissues, toilet paper, breakfast cereal and potato chips in one bag, and the 47 pounds of canned goods, milk cartons, orange juice and beer in another.
» People who spend 20 minutes telling me why they don’t have time to do a five-minute job.
» People who insist on telling me their pet peeves.
If you want Peter Rabbit/Hallmark cards kind of stuff, I guess I can comply from time to time. Believe it or not, the recent video about Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent moves me to tears every time I watch it.
But please don’t tell anyone I’m such a softy. It will ruin my curmudgeon reputation.
— Paul Burri is an entrepreneur, inventor, columnist, engineer and iconoclast. He is not in the advertising business, but he is a small-business counselor with the Santa Barbara chapter of Counselors to America’s Small Business-SCORE. He can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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