Author Archives: alifeofknuckleballs
People 101: The Unprofessional McDonald’s Employee
A lot of people around us are mean. Inconsiderate. Rude. They’re all around us. Since they are like that, well, then it’s fair game that I criticize them. Starting now – right here and right now.
So, the other day (last Sunday at 7 p.m., in fact… according to the time stamp on the photo that I took), I visited the local McDonald’s. Not wanting to endure receiving poor service and/or dealing with unfriendly cashiers yet again (my experience has often been cashiers not smiling and/or not even bothering to greet the customer), I used the mobile app to order the meal and requested McDonald’s “table service.” It’s simple. You just enter the table #, and they’re supposed to bring it to your table.
Soon after I ordered through the app, a McDonald’s employee – a young lady – brought a tray out with items that looked like what I had ordered. She walked right past my table and took it to another table where two guys were seated. She said to them in a very cheerful voice, “Did you guys order this?”
I waved at her and said, “I did.” She brought the tray over and placed it at my table, and left without a word. No “Can I get you anything else?” or “Is that everything?” No, she put the tray down and walked away WITHOUT A WORD. And no, she didn’t re-join the kitchen or the counter, or wherever she was supposed to go. She went BACK to that table with the two guys and said something to them before leaving.
I was having my meal, sipping on the hot tea, and I would say about 25 minutes later, that same young lady came back into the customer area. She re-joined that same table and sat down with the two guys. Apparently, she was off-duty at that point, and they were discussing college classes, etc., and in their conversation they were – including she – using swear words. I was still in the middle of my hot tea, and that’s why I was still there. And since the area was pretty empty – but not without customers (such as myself) – I could hear their conversation. It wasn’t that I wanted to.
Her actions were highly unprofessional. I have a contact at the head office, so I discussed this incident with that person. I didn’t mention the swear words, though. I stuck to the lack of service with this so-called “table service.” What that lady does in her free time – swearing at her place of work – is none of my business. But being unprofessional while still on duty… when I’m the customer… well, it’s definitely my business. The tables have numbers on there, and I input my table number, yet this McDonald’s employee was unprofessional in carrying the tray to where her friends were sitting – sure, cater to your friends first, right? – instead of doing her job. The worst part was this dropping off the tray and not saying a word to me while returning to her friends. Unprofessional. Gutless.
Knuckleball Legends
Again, over the years I’ve written various books, and it’s good to look back today and “pat myself on the back,” so to speak.
This time, I specifically want to look back at my “Don’t Blame the Knuckleballer” series, from 2015-2017:
The first one was Don’t Blame the Knuckleballer! Baseball Legends, Myths, and Stories, available on Amazon.com.
Here’s some information on that book:
In Don’t Blame the Knuckleballer! Baseball Legends, Myths, and Stories, K.P. Wee looks at more than 30 obscure and forgotten tales told by ballplayers, coaches, and broadcasters throughout baseball history – and repeated by historians and bloggers – while mixing in a knuckleballing theme. For each tale, Wee asks, “Did this really happen?” or “Did they blame the right person?”
Among the tales:
* Did Joe Niekro really strike out the first five batters of a game in the very first inning?
* Did Phil Niekro really make Floyd Robinson silly on a strikeout?
* Did “Sunday Teddy” Lyons really pitch only on Sundays?
* How did Tom Candiotti “botch” the Jeff Kent fantasy baseball story?
* Did Pedro Martinez actually forget the details of his first big-league start and blame the wrong guy?
* Did you know that Ted Williams had to face a knuckleballer on the next-to-last day of his historic 1941 season?
* Was Mark Grace really on deck when Glenallen Hill hit his mammoth home run at Wrigley?
Then, in 2017, there was also Don’t Blame the Knuckleballer II, again available on Amazon.
In the second book, titled Don’t Blame the Knuckleballer II: More Baseball Legends, Myths, Stories, and Trivia, some stories are featured in the form of trivia questions, including:
* Who was the last starting pitcher ever in the majors to pitch only two innings in a game – and leave because of an injury – and then receive credit for an “injury win”?
* Which knuckleballer once threw a shutout to beat Greg Maddux?
* Which knuckleballer was the second pitcher ever in big-league history to have two consecutive starts of eight-plus innings and zero runs to begin his postseason career?
* Which knuckleballer was said to have had “one of the most courageous pitching performances” of the 1939 major-league season – and why?
* Which future Hall of Famer who was teammates with Bobby Witt made his pitching debut with his new club by entering in relief in a bases-loaded situation?
In Don’t Blame the Knuckleballer II, I look at more than 20 additional obscure and forgotten tales told by ballplayers, coaches, and broadcasters throughout baseball history – and repeated by fans, historians, and bloggers – while mixing in a knuckleballing theme.
Thank you for picking up a copy of each book – I really appreciate your support!
Time to reflect back on the publication of “A Life of Knuckleballs”…
I’m not one who toots his own horn. I rarely do that. But, in the era of social media and getting your name out there, I suppose it’s become a necessity to do so. After all, if you’ve written a book, you want people to know about it — and these days, it’s essential to use social media and the Internet to promote your works.
So, this brings me to this post today: I can’t believe how fast time has flown, but it’s been nearly five years now since my book about underrated knuckleball pitcher Tom Candiotti, A Life of Knuckleballs, was published by McFarland & Co.
I’m still blown away to see people buying a copy here and there. I mean, I’ve always thought that Candiotti didn’t get the accolades that he deserved in his career. So, to have a book about him published — albeit it a little too late, in my opinion, as it came out 15 years after his retirement — is an amazing thing.
It wasn’t an easy process, to be sure. Having a book published isn’t a simple matter of the writing part. It’s also listening to what the publisher wants. There were many stories that Candiotti told me which I originally included in the manuscript, but the publisher has a word limit and all that, and wanted a lot of those stories excluded in the book.
Perhaps some day I will post those stories that didn’t make it into the book on this website. We shall see.
But it’s been nearly five years since the book came out. Time to pat myself on the back.
Dodgers Nation podcast – Tues. Jan 15, 2019
I was in Los Angeles in January 2019, making an appearance on DodgersNation podcast on the 15th….
Vindication?
On TSN1040 weeks earlier, I mentioned that a playoff team might fire its manager if that ballclub underachieves in the postseason… I mean, it would be possible that a manager was fired despite leading his team to the playoffs – it’s happened before (Grady Little, Joe Girardi, John Farrell, and if we want to go back further, Casey Stengel, etc.)…
When I made that comment, people were rolling their eyes. But hey, look at Game Four of the 2018 World Series, where it’s now 9-6 for the Red Sox in the bottom of the ninth.
Tough questions have to be asked about Dave Roberts, manager of the Dodgers. They were up 4-0 after six innings with a dominant Rich Hill, who up to that point was throwing a one-hitter. He was pulled after 91 pitches.
With the score 4-3, Kenley Jansen, who had given up the game-tying homer in the eighth inning one night earlier, was brought back out for the eighth inning in Game Four to try and get a six-out save.
Home run. Tie game. Red Sox then scored five big runs to break the game open.
The Dodgers looked like they were going to tie the Series at 2-2 with Hill leading the way less than 24 hours after that epic 7 hour, 20 minute game…
And Roberts made at least two very questionable calls with the pitching.
So… just because you manage a team to the playoffs doesn’t mean you always make the right calls. If you make one too many, get ready to be scrutinized. Don’t forget, in the playoffs you’re facing tougher teams, not the Padres or Marlins or Mets anymore.
And I believe this is the end for the Dodgers as their window is definitely closing. It’s awfully hard to make it to the World Series three straight years….
