Tip of My Iceberg

Who knew radio could be so entertaining?

Driving back and forth in Chicago with my sisters to visit Mom, we listened to Gayle’s favorite station. WSHE 100.3. I’m not a huge radio listener, but I was in stitches listening to Brooke and Jubul on their morning show.

They’ve a segment called “Second Date Update” where men and women call in to talk about wanting another chance at being with someone they’d seen once. The other person hasn’t called or indicated they were even interested.

A gal named Carolyn called who’d been out with Rob, a guy she didn’t find interesting or attractive. She was rather blunt–read “rude”–in explaining how the date was a bust.

However, she was calling in because she wanted another shot with him.

Seems Rob had mentioned at some point in their evening together that he’d won tickets to an Adam Levine concert with a Meet and Greet pass thrown in for good measure.

Carolyn was a huge Adam Levine fan.

Brooke was asking her why she’d go out with someone she didn’t enjoy, and when she heard the reason, she called Carolyn a snake.

I completely agreed.

Jubul got Rob on the phone, not telling him Carolyn was listening. He told Rob that she was actually interested in going out with him a second time. Rob rightly responded that he didn’t think she was all that into him. Jubul didn’t respond to that–he merely said she was on the phone and wanted to talk.

The two connected.

What transpired was as manipulative and deceitful as I’ve heard in awhile. Carolyn said she wanted to give it another chance, and Rob offered to get coffee with her a few days hence. Carolyn, with more gaul than I could imagine, said she remembered he’d told her of his Adam Levine tickets and thought that would be a great second date.

He, however, had given one ticket to his young niece, who was as big of fan of Levine as Carolyn. He would take her.

Carolyn then asked if he really had to take the niece. Couldn’t he just say he’d made a mistake and get the ticket back?

Rob finally caught on. She could have cared less about him. She wanted what he had to offer, and when he said he wouldn’t disappoint his niece, she responded, “I have wants, too.”

The conversation that ensued with the radio hosts was how anyone could be so self-centered and calloused to another.

I stopped laughing at that point.

What Carolyn did blatantly, caring only for her desires in the moment, I’ve done in a passive/aggressive way. Hurting others with my attitudes or my perception of them because of what I need in the moment. Where Carolyn was young and self-centered, I’m an older, more careful version of the same person.

I want what I want when I want it.

Jesus tells us that we should treat others as we want to be treated by them. That doesn’t guarantee we’ll receive a fair and kind response from them. We’re only responsible for our actions and attitudes.

Selfishness is our human condition.

Not something I’d want to admit or share on public radio.