T.V. vs. reality
Have you ever noticed that people in the movies and on television never say goodbye when they end a phone conversation? I’ve noticed that and always thought it was very odd but cool. A few years back I thought I would try it because I wanted to be cool.
What happened was, in every case, when I would just hang up when the call was over instead of saying goodbye, see you later, or talk soon, the person would always call back because they thought the call dropped.
After about the third time of someone calling me back to ask if my phone dropped the call, I stopped trying to be like the folks in the movies. It did get me wondering about all the other “cool” stuff we see on television and in the movies that just does not work in real life.
Take lighting two cigarettes at once and then handing one of them to a woman or man you are trying to impress. It just is not convenient. Put aside the current COVID-19 situation and think about the fact that you cannot smoke in bars, restaurants, office buildings or anywhere but outside or your own house. In addition, I do not smoke and it would be presumptuous of me to think the other person was a smoker. They would probably get offended and it would turn into a whole thing.
Then there is the fiction of being falling down drunk and, after drinking two cups of coffee, you are miraculously sober. I have partaken of my share of alcohol in my younger days and I can tell you I have drunk many a cup of coffee and not gotten sober. Usually what would happen to me is I would wake up in the morning with coffee stains on the front of my shirt, which I slept in, and a vague memory of trying to drink coffee at some point during my night of debauchery.
Finally, we come to the most ridiculous movie or T.V. scene ever. This is the one where the child gets up in the morning and comes into the kitchen where his mother has prepared a full breakfast and simply grabs a piece of toast and darts out the door to catch up to a friend walking down the street. This is complete fiction and would never happen in a million years in my childhood home.
If my mom had gone to all the trouble of making me a complete breakfast and I had just grabbed a piece of toast and said bye, I would not have gotten three feet before my dad would have stopped me in my tracks. He would have placed me back in my seat at the table and told me to eat my breakfast. I would have more than likely received a box to my ears to go along with my bacon.
Therefore, when I see the Beaver rushing out to track down Larry Mondello and his mom just smiles and shakes her head while Ward continues reading his newspaper I find it very funny. Of course, my mother never wore a full string of pearls while cooking breakfast like June Cleaver so maybe that is where the disconnect lies. Maybe pearls equate to patience or was Ward just a believer in the spare the rod, spoil the child philosophy. The world will never know.