So, I was exchanging PMs with another terbite the other day. At the end of one PM, I wished him a Merry Christmas. To this he responded with, "I thought you were a Jew like me" and he wished me a Happy Hanukah.
Well, I promptly advised him that we could no longer be friends and I have cut off all communication with him.
However, this reminded me of a story that I thought I'd share.
As a young teen, I got my first summer job working on a maintenance crew at a summer camp for autistic adults.
I was hired by an old Irish guy and my duties were mostly routine things like cutting grass and painting picnic tables.
Most days we ate our lunch outside. We'd just find a tree to sit under, preferably near the pond where the "inmates" and the "counselors" would go swimming. Some of the counselors were high school girls so that was nice.
I had worked at this place for about 4 weeks and I really didn't know anything about the organization that funded/ran the camp. As it turns out, it was a Jewish organization.
Now, I have to admit that knowing that really wouldn't have changed what happened. At the time, I was just a small town kid who knew literally nothing about any religions other than my own. In fact, having almost never been to church, I knew very little about my own.
Anyhow, one day, two of us were assigned to paint the outside of the lunch hall. It was a huge job and it was about 95 degrees out. By lunch time we were soaked with sweat and needed to find a cool place to eat. Well, we'd started pretty early in the morning and it was only about 11am so nobody was using the lunch hall yet and it was air conditioned.
So, off we go to the air conditioned lunch hall. We find a table and sit down. We open our little coolers and take out our lunches. I can't remember what the other guy had but I had a very nice ham sandwhich. Unfortunately, my Mom had forgotten to put mustard or mayo on it, so I took it to the kitchen and fixed it up.
So, you can see where this is going...
We're sitting there eating for about 10 minutes, when the cook comes in to start preparing lunch for everyone. He comes over and talks to us for a bit and makes a comment about how it looks like we're eating well. So I mention that I went into the kitchen to fix up my sandwhich and I hope thats OK. "No problem" he says, "what kind of sandwhich do you have?"
"Oh, its just ham and cheese", I say.
Well, I thought the poor bastard was having a heart attack! First, all the blood drained from his face. Then all the blood rushed back into his face!
Then he started yelling at me! The he kicked me out and dragged me to my boss and started yelling at him.
Well nobody else got to eat lunch that day. They had to sanitize most of the kitchen and the lunch area and call in a special Rabbi to make everything kosher again.
They were nice enough not to fire me but I ate my lunch outside from then on.
I'm still a bit of a dolt when it comes to understanding various religions, including my own family's.
I don't really care what your beliefs are, I wish you all the best for whatever holiday you're celebrating.
Take care.
Well, I promptly advised him that we could no longer be friends and I have cut off all communication with him.
However, this reminded me of a story that I thought I'd share.
As a young teen, I got my first summer job working on a maintenance crew at a summer camp for autistic adults.
I was hired by an old Irish guy and my duties were mostly routine things like cutting grass and painting picnic tables.
Most days we ate our lunch outside. We'd just find a tree to sit under, preferably near the pond where the "inmates" and the "counselors" would go swimming. Some of the counselors were high school girls so that was nice.
I had worked at this place for about 4 weeks and I really didn't know anything about the organization that funded/ran the camp. As it turns out, it was a Jewish organization.
Now, I have to admit that knowing that really wouldn't have changed what happened. At the time, I was just a small town kid who knew literally nothing about any religions other than my own. In fact, having almost never been to church, I knew very little about my own.
Anyhow, one day, two of us were assigned to paint the outside of the lunch hall. It was a huge job and it was about 95 degrees out. By lunch time we were soaked with sweat and needed to find a cool place to eat. Well, we'd started pretty early in the morning and it was only about 11am so nobody was using the lunch hall yet and it was air conditioned.
So, off we go to the air conditioned lunch hall. We find a table and sit down. We open our little coolers and take out our lunches. I can't remember what the other guy had but I had a very nice ham sandwhich. Unfortunately, my Mom had forgotten to put mustard or mayo on it, so I took it to the kitchen and fixed it up.
So, you can see where this is going...
We're sitting there eating for about 10 minutes, when the cook comes in to start preparing lunch for everyone. He comes over and talks to us for a bit and makes a comment about how it looks like we're eating well. So I mention that I went into the kitchen to fix up my sandwhich and I hope thats OK. "No problem" he says, "what kind of sandwhich do you have?"
"Oh, its just ham and cheese", I say.
Well, I thought the poor bastard was having a heart attack! First, all the blood drained from his face. Then all the blood rushed back into his face!
Then he started yelling at me! The he kicked me out and dragged me to my boss and started yelling at him.
Well nobody else got to eat lunch that day. They had to sanitize most of the kitchen and the lunch area and call in a special Rabbi to make everything kosher again.
They were nice enough not to fire me but I ate my lunch outside from then on.
I'm still a bit of a dolt when it comes to understanding various religions, including my own family's.
I don't really care what your beliefs are, I wish you all the best for whatever holiday you're celebrating.
Take care.
