Sep
20
2004
1

An eye for an eye

I was listening to the radio a while ago and they were talking about David Starkey’s recent likening of the Americans to the Jews, in seeking vengeance on the 9/11 attackers. There was a discussion about the appropriatness of his comments, and people were responding to them. Someone mentioned the Jewish scripture “An eye for an eye” (Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21), and then said that that scripture was about limiting vengeance.

This part of scripture has always bothered me somewhat, if I’m honest — it seems so harsh. Ghandi said something along the lines of “An eye for an eye, and the world will soon be blind” and to be honest I’ve always been inclined to agree with him. But hearing the scripture in this light was like a breath of fresh air! The point of the scripture is not about taking out all your grievances on the person who sinned against you, but is about upholding justice, and making sure you don’t go overboard. It seems it’s saying “if you must have vengeance, be fair about it”, that revenge is a sort of last resort. I’m beginning to see more of the “Justice is good, but Mercy is better” stance of the Old Testament that people claim is there.

Written by Mark in: Faith, Selected ancient posts |
Sep
19
2004
0

Exciting developments in the field of making IE do as it’s told

[...]

Last day at Menzies today, as well. Was lots of fun, Deborah dropped grapefruit juice all over the floor and then broke the wheel off the mop bucket.

Edit: Most of this post has been deleted, I guess you could see that already

Written by Mark in: Selected ancient posts |
Sep
14
2004
2

Menzies customer comments

Here are some selected customer comments from the August monthly feedback. It comes from across the whole of the Menzies Empire.

“Could not understand staff. Guest annoyed not told wedding taking place. Restaurant dirty, chairs dusty, mirrors filthy, dead garden. No atmosphere. Guests treated as second class citizens.” “Bored receptionist running through motions.”

“Silverware could be better. Waiting staff must understand English. Crockery and cutlery a disgrace.”

“Shower curtains and cheap plastic bins are 2 star quality.”

Good to know you’re doing a first class job isn’t it?

Anyways, Mr Menzies and two investors are coming in to check out the hotel tomorrow morning which should be fun. They usually spend most of their time upstairs so probably won’t see much of them. Crap! I post a lot about Menzies, this is a bad thing. Let’s see… what else can I write about…

Oh yes, of course! Went on a camping weekend thing for a few days with friends to the Gower (near Swansea). It was really good! Got a tiny bit of a tan, and found a braclet in the sea! It was just floating there and I thought ‘that’s a nice piece of shell/seaweed,’ bent over to pick it up and behold! it was a bracelet. Had a really nice time wandering on the beach, talking to mates and examining closely a rockpool. It was really nice to just look at all the little animals and watch them going about their business.

We stayed in two scout tents and the buggers were awful! Ours wasn’t properly pegged down so the sides kept blowing in. Frequently I woke up with the wind blowing full in my face. Caught a few hours sleep in between having dead legs, freezing cold temperatures and muttering wild curses — “bloody thing I hate it to death” — that kind of thing.

Anyway, I’d better go and get my shirt out of the tumble dryer, I have to go to work in a few minutes (it has to be washed once a day, sometimes twice). You know, I don’t know how they’re going to cope when all the students leave; the entire restaurant staff is made up of students and Polish people, and all will be leaving before long. How on earth they’re going to be able to cope what with having no staff in a few weeks, I will never know…

“One person serving entire restaurant, bar, and reception. Unacceptable. Waited five hours for stone-cold food.”

“Restaurant staff non-existent, had to collect own food. Had heart attack when saw state of kitchens. Was shouted at by head chef for falling over noisily.”

“Fellow diner starved to death waiting for food. Corpse not cleared away. Four star stipulations clearly state that all corpses should be cleard within fifteen minutes of cessation of life.”

Written by Mark in: Greatest Hits, Selected ancient posts |
Sep
05
2004
0

Drunken guests

Well, I arrived at Menzies today to be greeted by two drunken fools who had been there since 10pm the previous night. They’d actually been up in the bar until 6am the following day, I was disgusted. Plus they were very loud and rude, and I had one of my murderous thoughts (along the lines of “I hope they choke on their vomit”). I do sometimes worry about my murderous thoughts, but I don’t think I actually want people to, for instance, choke on their vomit. Just go away, but not to actually die.

Written by Mark in: Selected ancient posts |

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