Child Review: Offspring of Bureaucrats in High Positions

OK. Mr. Morebucks, who owns the place where I do various jobs, is very well connected politically, clearly because he is very well set financially. He's one of the back seat drivers of things governmental, and believe me, things governmental are guided more by those you don't see, riding in the back seat, than those in front waving and honking the horn.

I think that was some sort of metaphorish statement, but probably is full of flaws any English major would note and find disquieting.

Whatever it was, I stand by by it.

So, people in high places sometimes vacation at Mr Morebucks SoCal resort home. He is rarely there; maybe three weeks out of the year divided among two or three visits. He hires a full time house manager to handle the bills, hire people like me and make sure his rowdy friends have whatever they want when they descend on the place. Most of his friends are in one way or another connected to politics or government, either nationally or in the land of dead voters. That reference allows the astute who remember what put Kennedy and others over the top to narrow it down to a city. Others will just have to assume it is irrelevant.

OK, a guy who is high enough up that government agents accompany the family on vacation came to stay with his hot wife and bratty kids. The kids broke the electric wooden gate in the first fifteen minutes. Somehow they managed to force the operating arm of the thing to pull out from its mount which meant two lag bolts were ripped out of the wood. Not the best lag bolt installation to begin with, but this took effort and persistence.

I did not find out how it happened until today. The maid saw them arrive. I was called to go fix it that day. I was able to do a temporary repair, then the next day the gang was to be gone all day so I returned and did my usual excellent work installing a permanent fix. I had to pick up some things based on the previous day's observations. That is how such things work--fiddle and fit. You have to go see what the problem is then hope you can find the right thing to fix it. This one worked out.

Today I went back to do the usual putting things away and covering things up that I do when the guests hit the road...or in most cases, the private jet.

Those kids must have a thing about doors on hinges. They managed to destroy the hinges on a cabinet door. It is a pretty good sized cabinet which houses some sound equipment. It is all operated by remote and there is no reason to even be in there. Finding the same type hinge is going to be a trick. What I did was trade out the top hinge for the bottom one of a smaller door with the same hardware. The cabinet has three different types of hinges for various reasons.

The door has to close or a light stays on; like a refrigerator door, except this one is de-energized by a button the door has to press against when closed. I barely got it to work, but it is not noticeably screwed up unless you are a cabinet nazi. In that case you'd notice that it is not perfect.

The thing is, the parents watched as their kids set out to mess up the big wooden driveway doors/gate, and did absolutely nothing. Judging from the spoiled and entitled behavior of guests at this place; they break things, leave trash laying around, etc. and never say to the "help", oh we busted this or that. They just go on their merry way and maybe complain about something like, "We couldn't get the windows in the hall to open". Of course those would be the only windows that do not open because they are panes of glass mounted in the wall and not intended to open.

Seriously these people are mentally deficient. But, they are in high places and buds with the President. Far be it from me to draw any conclusions from that.

Their kids are destructive little brats, and the parents do not take responsibility for their actions, or for guiding the kids away from abusing that which is not theirs.

Late era baby boomers. Really, when a baby boomer has decent kids or is a human being of character, it is always an exciting event, so what do I expect? I honestly think my generation is mostly dimwits and devoid of common courtesy and understanding of the rights of others. Many of them have spawned even more vile beings than themselves.

I know it sounds like I am being harsh, but I've found it is not only I who have experienced maybe one out of twenty self declared friends who would lift a finger when it mattered to you, and one out of fifty who would do so if it in any way was an inconvenience. It is the nature of our peers.

My only worry now is that the actuator which moves the wooden gate is so well fastened that they might destroy it next time if they go about things the same way. It is not a lightweight piece of hardware. The thing is substantial. We'll see. I charged about triple because it was an emergency call and I was on my way home. The house manager was all about paying me a premium for my prompt attention to the situation. For that I am grateful.

I should remain grateful for the work but, I have to say, I am getting a little bored and feel like I am stagnating. Time to create what has not been created. What would that be? Maybe a start would be an organized domicile.

So, from my limited experience, I have to give bureaucrats' kids two thumbs down. One star out of five. A 1, on a scale of 1 to 10---10 being best.