Ha ha, take that!

As some of you may know, this summer I began doing promotional work. (You know those people handing out samples or promoting some product or event at a mall, concert, whatever? That's what it is.) Anyway, now that school is back in session I've only been doing it sporadically, but recently I learned about a job paying $20 an hour to work a scotch whiskey tasting event. $20 and I actually like whiskey...sign me up!

So I was booked for the event, which turned out to be held at a private posh club -- think lots of paintings of old white guys, chandeliers, and a rule that guys take the back service stairs if they aren't wearing a sport coat. I was picked to staff the booth for one of the most high-end whiskeys at the event (a beautiful thing when, after the event was over, he invited us to take home any remaining product). The manager gave us all the low-down on things like what kind of wood casks the whiskeys were aged in and the flavor imparted by peat (to my discriminating palate, something like basement crossed with dirt and moth balls). He then gestured to lovely silver buckets at each booth, like those for chilling champagne. "Oh, and just so you don't get freaked out," he explained, "these are for spitting out the whiskey."

For the next 4 hours I poured tastes of whiskey of various ages, extolled the virtues of sherry oak casks, and tolerated lame "har har, I wouldn't mind an 18 year old" jokes about the aged scotch. In the face of all this indulgence I couldn't help but think about the talk of a $700 billion bailout and economic crisis. I leaned over to one of my coworkers, a guy who also works in the social work field in addition to promotions. "So right now in our country all these people are struggling to pay their bills, they can't find work, whatever..." I said, "and here in this room, people have paid hundreds of dollars to taste expensive scotch...and dump it into a bucket?"

Thinking of this, I remembered a brilliant bit of comedy from David Cross making a similar observation on the excesses of the wealthy, which I then tried to recount to my coworker with less than hilarious results. But through the wonders of youtube, you can listen to it firsthand, with all the funny intact!

Start listening at 3:35 to skip straight to the part I'm talking about (or listen to the whole thing. You'll be glad you did.)

"...So then at the very end of the meal you get the dessert...the dessert thing is this big hand-carved chocolate mountain thing, and then on the top of the mountain is a sheet of real gold. Tasteless, odorless gold. To eat. And I thought, wow man...if that isn't the ultimate FUCK YOU! to poor people, I don't know what is..."