This guy… He comes to Los Angeles to better his shitty, one-directional, stuck-in-a-gutter, leading-nowhere life; and instead of actually learning from his previous mistakes and doing everything he can in order to make things better for himself and his family back at home, he does everything the only way he knows how – the fucked up way.
On some level, I don’t think he ever thought he’d stay here long enough to make any actual progress. Perhaps he thought of Los Angeles as a magical tree that grows money; a tree that he could easily climb like he used to back in the day when he was made of muscles instead of fat, applying no effort whatsoever, laughing hysterically in triumph as he reached the prize, abandoning the scene of the crime before being found out; certainly way before the owner of said tree would be able to angrily dump a bucket a water on him for unrightfully stealing her shit.
This guy never even changed his license plates from Missouri to California. He was all like “The Department of Motor Vehicles Will Never Have My Soul”. Constantly bitching and complaining about the way people drive or really do anything around here, he would put himself above the rest, proclaiming to be better at not only things that are “common sense” but at any general life skills he thought he’s the only one to possess; meaning everyone else around him is a complete moron and their mere existence is purely accidental, while also downright unnecessary.
This guy… His car battery dies. As the car is still in the front yard, he walks back into the house, demanding that I pull up my car, allowing him to jump-start his. No questions asked, I do exactly that; just for reference and for the sake of the story, let’s not forget that this guy and I aren’t exactly the best of friends… We jump start his car and he leaves. Half an hour later, as I’m in the backyard painting, all relaxed and shit, I get a text message from Wheeler – “Can you come to Home Depot and give me a jump?” Contemplating whether to tell him to go fuck himself or to do the right thing, I settle on the latter.
This guy… He doesn’t know the concept of ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. He doesn’t understand the difference between what’s expected, what’s owed and what needs to be asked for. He’s completely unaware of his selfishness and the fact that all aspects of his life not only require but up to this point have always been coddled. This guy is utterly oblivious to the ways of the outside world and it’s mostly because he doesn’t know any other way.
Is it his fault? Well… Not entirely. Parents and/or guardians are surely to blame for at least half of it. However, he does have all the resources at his disposal to become a better person; constantly. Does he use those resources? No, he does not. He remains an imbecile. You know why? Because it’s easier that way; he’s not considered an imbecile in a room full of retards so as long as he doesn’t climb higher than he can handle, he can remain the pinnacle of his own society; the society in which being grateful and appreciative isn’t something that gets brownie points; the society in which winning a burping contest and obtaining a free set of VR goggles via being savvy with customer service is considered a talent.
