If I ruled the world, we'd have annual travel with dogs
If I ruled the world, we'd have annual travel with dogs
My response to Tyrese's anti-dog stance for women, along with a spin on the law idea from Trevor Noah's co-host
Update on Sept. 7, 2024: I did not think this woman could make herself more unlikeable, and yet she did. On the “Elon Effect” episode, Medina self-identified as an “Obama hater” for him being more of a political centrist but she did love how a “black woman married a rich man.” At this point, I will lower the volume to avoid hearing more clueless comments like this, and turn it up when Josh Johnson and Trevor Noah talk. I like the podcast too much to stop listening, and I love it so much more when Trevor has a celebrity guest or one of his childhood friends. Josh has a funny and politically savvy YouTube page as well. Support it here.
If you look up “intimidating black woman” right now, I’m going to be on the first page of Google. (I’m not kidding. It’s been like this for years.) This is not a flex. The irony is the post I wrote about that stereotype was to prove that not all black women are intimidating; sometimes we just want to go to work, do the job and not have to be self-conscious about assimilating from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. — and be guilted into going to mandatory Happy Hours, work baby showers, work wedding showers and chip in for every co-worker’s gift, all while smiling and kissing up to our boss. That is exhausting.
Although I have not worked in Corporate America in six years, forced friendships and black lady micro-managing are the things I miss the least about that environment. And the irony is I never deal with it when it comes to remote work. For four of the past six years, none of my clients are African-American and a couple past clients live in Australia and parts of Africa. Something about remote work (even with all its tech-glitchy virtual meetings) makes people naturally develop friendships and healthy communication without feeling overwhelmed.
So you would assume that I’d be totally on board with Trevor Noah’s and Josh Johnson’s “If I Ruled the World, Petty Is Power” made-up laws, right? Nope. Not at all. I’m still a huge fan of Customer Service, and I don’t think being petty is cute. I’m not one of those people who smirks and goes, “But I’m petty.” I don’t want the world to justify employees being mean, even if people have bad days. I do, however, think Trevor Noah makes a valid point about how exhausting it is to have to kiss up to people from other countries and cultures to get a good review.
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With that said, his story about the air conditioner guy was not the same as being a jerk. There is a huge difference between being callous and being efficient. In simpler terms, if you’re a dickhead all the time, then you deserve that one-star review at your job and I don’t feel sorry for you. Yay, Yelp!
Recommended Read: “Yelp is calling out racist businesses ~ As an Elite member of Yelp, this is applaud-worthy”
I vote “yes” for Christiana Mbakwe Medina’s law
What I didn’t expect to happen while listening to the former “The Daily Show” host’s podcast was to be delighted by Christiana "Professional Hater" Mbakwe Medina’s “If I Ruled the World” law. In her world, everyone is required to travel somewhere annually on the government’s dime. If they travel to the same place twice, they have to pay the second time. But they will go somewhere randomly for three weeks, which (hopefully) will teach them more about people unlike themselves.
Considering how upset I was at a VP Kamala Harris comment that Medina made a few weeks back, I was ready to disagree with whatever her idea was. But when she dropped this gem, I paused and went, “I love this idea. Can we put this in motion?”
Tyrese can keep throwing shots at single women and making comments like, “Nobody needs to go home to a Poodle and a vibrator,” but I’ve yet to see one unhappy woman around her Poodle.
Every trip probably wouldn’t be a five-star review, but this would give us so much more worldwide diversity, inclusion and general understanding of people who don’t look like each other. Using my own travels as an example, I liked being in Washington D.C. more than I liked hanging out in Oahu’s Honolulu or Memphis, Tennessee. I loathe Marquette, Michigan, but I’ve lived a great life in Missouri’s Jefferson City and multiple visits in St. Louis. Toronto and Ontario were beautiful, especially seeing Niagara Falls at night. And you could drop me off in Maui for the rest of my life and I’d be happy forever. But even in places I didn’t enjoy traveling or living, I still have photographs of fun moments while I was there.
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Whenever I travel, I beeline past the tourists and try to befriend the locals. I do not want to hear, “Oh, I’ve been to Chicago” 50,000 times when I’m trying to enjoy some place outside of Illinois.
Christiana’s law — with a spin for pet owners
I do have one caveat to Medina’s plan, if I could copy hers. She mentioned that everyone on Earth would have to travel somewhere else for three weeks each year, and my first thought was, “I’m not leaving my dog for three weeks every single year. Every place I went would have to be dog-friendly, or you’ll find me picking up trash for community service instead.” (Note: For those who refused to travel, that was their “punishment.”)
R&B artist Tyrese can keep throwing shots at single women and making comments like, “Nobody needs to go home to a Poodle and a vibrator,” but I’ve yet to see one unhappy woman around her Poodle. (I’ve walked 99 dogs and been a dog walker for five years. I’m gonna guess I would see an unhappy lady dog owner by now.)
I don’t know why women are catching shots for being pet owners — from R&B singers and the Pope alike — but a dog can be woman’s best friend, whether you like it or not. My parents celebrated their 44th anniversary this weekend, and they’ve owned three dogs (including the one I’m dogsitting right now).
According to the American Heart Association, pets can reduce work stress, increase productivity, help manage anxiety, be more active and bring a sense of goodwill.
And if I ruled the world, pet owners would get to travel with their pets on planes, hotels, inns, cruises, wherever, without paying all those extra fees and having to hire dog boarders and dog sitters because they are forced to leave their pets behind.