Folks I Can't Stand

About 10 years ago, when I was playing at being a more observant Jew, my rabbi friend asked me to join a committee to help raise funds for the survival of his synagogue.

We met one evening at the East Kendall home of a commercial lawyer and his wife, who was the daughter of a disgraced former judge, ensnared in the infamous "Operation Court Broom" scandal.

Anyway, the lawyer, whom I'll call Jeff, since that was his name, was very stand-offish to me. He listened intently to the others in the group, including some business owners, and other local professionals. When I spoke, Jeff would look at his watch, or yawn, as if he wondered why some schlepper was a part of the august assembly.

Well, we had the next meeting at my house, and when Jeff came over, he seemed in awe of the size of Villa Wifey. He started paying close attention to me, and had a thousand questions about my law practice, and where I trained, etc... He literally treated me as if I was formerly foul smelling, and had now showered and put on cologne.

I immediately labeled him an arriviste putz. Somehow when he found out I was more "important" than he had thought, I became worthy of his concern.

Well, the years passed, and I have mostly recovered from my flirtation with religious observance, and Jeff has gone on with his career, as far as I know. I never forgot what a putz he was.

It happened again last night! Wifey and I went out with my old friend Norman and his lovely new wife. Norman is one of those folks I've always (since 1983) felt close to, and somehow don't socialize with nearly enough. We went to a great Design District restaurant, and had terrific food and fine conversation.

I ran into a lawyer I know, and HIS ex judge wife. The lawyer knows my partner well, and I introduced him to Norman and Deb, and, as usual, the diminutive fellow went on about how well he was doing and how much money his wife earned.

I noticed he paid little attention to Norman, who stood by politely, as the big mouthed little fellow went on and on. Well, I mentioned that Norman was a name partner in a fairly well known Miami firm, and the conversation turned.

All of a sudden, the tiny barrister had interest in Norman, and started playing Jewish geography with him. It was as if Norman had transformed from some random, unimportant dinner guest to a celebrity!

Dave Barry once wrote that a person who is nice to you, but treats delivery folks and other service workers poorly, is NOT a nice person.

And so it was last night.

Norman's so cool, I don't even think he noticed, but Wifey and I did. We talked about it this morning.

Well, it didn't overshadow a fine evening, with Norman and his lovely, foreign-born wife. Oh wait --she's Canadian. Isn't that a northern state?

Professor Harry P Schultz's wisdom was alive last night: we're all students inthe study of human nature.