How Rude!

I wasn't sure what I was going to write about today for SOLC.  And then Starbucks happened.

Well, we are in our second Starbucks for the day!  We left "our" Starbucks and drove to Freeport.  Summer Starbucks in Freeport is not good - too busy, but Winter Starbucks in Freeport is doable.  Quiet, no distractions...  oh, and the chairs are better!  It's the whole downstairs of a small house in downtown.

We left our usual haunt.  I will be selective when I am there from now on.

Our usual Starbucks had a lady there, about our age oddly enough, who was playing the radio through her phone loud enough to be heard throughout the place.  It was on so loud that it was kind of hard to understand, being so far in overdrive it was vibrating.  She sat between two tables, with her stuff on both - coat and sweater and coffee on her left, and purse, hat, scarf and some other items on the table to her right.  This is the second time I've seen her in this Starbucks doing this same thing.
We ordered coffees and sat down with our computers to work.  I put earbuds in.  No help.  I put my hands over my ears with the earbuds in...a little better, but I couldn't type that way.
We persevered for a little longer.  But there was going to be no writing done here.
As I listened to the almost unintelligible noises coming out of the radio, I realized it was Christian talk radio.

Now here's the thing.  I'm a Christian. I like Christian radio.  I listen to it in the car.  There is nothing wrong with it, and all who choose to, should be free to listen to it.  But no one should be forced to.  And I was getting the feeling that this is her crusade.  This is a fight she is hoping to pick with Starbucks.  Is Starbucks against Christians?  No.  They are not.  But if they asked her to stop playing her radio, or asked her to use earbuds, they would appear to be - in her eyes and to whomever she decided to spout off to - trying to keep her from freely expressing her Christianity.

Sigh.  Why do there have to be crazies in Christianity?  For some reason, they seem more visible than in the general population.  There are just as many percentage-wise in all groups - I just find the crazy Christians are held up as an example of "why you don't want to be one of them"! Why don't the crazies understand that they are doing Christ, and all his sane followers, an injustice and damage.  Sigh, again.
I'll try to be positive.  Maybe she was just very hard of hearing.  Maybe I should give her that.  Then someone has to tell her to get earbuds because everyone in the whole place can hear this.

Aside from this new development at our Starbucks, we do have another couple of crazies.
There's a older couple who bring in their fake service dog.  Two adults bring in this well-trained dog to sit on one of the easy chairs and feed him ice they get there.  He has an orange collar on, which is readily available in all pet stores.  He is not guiding, helping, nothing.  Service dogs are welcome in Starbucks, but this is not a service animal.  It's a dog.  A regular dog that these people bring in and allow to sit on the chair where people are going to be sitting later.  The dog's owner sits on the table, so maybe that is a good thing the dog's in the chair.  I really would find it appalling if they had the dog sit on the table.

Dogs in a place where there is food (or any store for that matter), used to be just not allowed, unless they were truly in use as a service animal.  And you used to be able to know for a certainty that an animal was a certified service animal.  Not now.  You can't even ask without getting yourself in trouble if you are Starbucks.  Starbucks isn't allowed to offend anyone.  So people take advantage of them, and I'm seeing people all over the place now deciding that rules of decency don't need to apply to them.
I'll try to be positive.  Maybe this dog needs them as the service animals.  Maybe they are emotionally handicapped, and they don't remember to have the animal wear its service vest.

I'm getting tired of rude.  I'm getting tired of entitlements.  I'm getting tired of being tired.  I think I need to take the advice of the Bible:

Philippians 4:8
⁸ Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Let it go.  Find new, purer, lovelier things to think on.

Ok.  I'm almost there.  I love having grandchildren.  They always give me purer, lovelier "thinks"!