Good Deed

Earlier this week I got back to my desk after a bunch of meetings and running around to find my laptop pushed back along with my backpack and soda. There was another laptop in front of mine, a jacket on my chair, and a bunch of paperwork sitting on my desk. I fought the urge to pick it all up and put it in the garbage and opted just to slide it out of my workspace. A while later I was rocking out to some good tunes when a guy came up to me said, 'sorry, I did not realize you were using this station.' I pulled out my headphones even though I heard him clearly. He said it again and it was in German (again) I actually understood, but made him say it again in English. I choked back my comment of, 'what article of mine that you moved didn't set you off to the idea that someone else was here? Was the laptop not obvious enough that someone was here?'

So I made amends for that one last night at the gym. I wanted to climb a route that I saw someone really struggling on the last time we were in Canyon since it looked like there were some sweet moves on it. Well there was a lead climber going up the route one rope over so I decided to wait until he was done before ascending. As I was watching I noted that he was a terrible climber and had no business leading. I watched him clip the first bolt and instinct kicked in as he had back clippped. For the non-climbers back clipping basically means that if you fall your rope will more than likely unclip itself from the carabiner sending you to the ground. So of course I said wait a second. I checked his belayer who was watching intently but said nothing. After the second clip putting him in the range of broken bones at the very least that he did incorrectly I told Kai to translate to his belayer to get him to fix his clips. The guys belayer (wife?) wouldn't listen and said she was too busy to listen. By dumb luck the guy finally got a clip correct, but I was still nervous because I don't want to see someone hit the deck right next to me regardless of how foolish they are. He eventually finished the route and I proceeded to explain to him and his wife the dangers of lead climbing and gave him a quick lesson on clipping. With many grunts hand gestures and making him do it a few times on his own I lectured his wife on her duties as a belayer to watch for such things as back clipping. So hopefully he learned his lesson... probably not, but I at least won't be at the pearly gates explaining why I didn't try to teach the monkey how not to kill himself... then get smacked by Darwin for disobeying his survival of the fittest. Everyone go rent Idiocracy and see what a few generations from now has to look forward to.