Friday, September 21, 2007

McCarded

Generalissimo Megan McArdle still has a cold.

The other day, I stopped in the drugstore on the way to meet a friend in order to pick up a little cold medicine. I stomped out in a huff, proclaiming that "this is not how people in a free society should live." In order to obtain a little Sudafed, I had to produce a photo ID and sign for it. Is shutting down one of many avenues of meth production really worth the price of treating every American citizen with a stuffy nose like a drug dealer?

Megan: "Hi, I'd like a little Sudafed, please."
Clerk: "Sure, um...do you mean you want the lowest dosage or the smallest bottle?"
Megan: "Eek! What I really meant was I'd like to obtain the most economical means for discongesting my nose."
Clerk: "Alright, that'll be be $14.95, may I see your ID?"
Megan: "Excuse me?"
Clerk: "Sorry, it's the meth-heads, they use it to make meth, you know, that preacher Haggard and all."
Megan: "MY FREEDOMS ARE BEING TRAMPLED! GRRAAHHHH!"

(Stomps out in a huff.)

Megan: "THIS IS NOT HOW PEOPLE IN A FREE SOCIETY SHOULD LIVE!"
Homeless woman on sidewalk: "Oh, thank you Dear, bless you, you're beautiful."
Megan: "I DON'T BELIEVE IN HANDOUTS!"

(Stomps into liquor store.)

Megan: "I''d like a little Absolut Watermelon, please."
Clerk: "That's $32. Can I see some ID?"
Megan: "WHAT!? OH, COME ON, I'M OBVIOUSLY OVER THHHhank you, sure, here you go."
Clerk: "Alright."
Megan: "Yeah, I get carded all the time. Must look really young."
Clerk: "Here's your change."
Megan: "I write for The Atlantic. Do you snore?"

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

what's with the drinking obsession? Because she was photographed holding a martini? I mean, it's fine if you're a teetotaler but to constantly harp on someone being a drunkard seems a bit, I don't know, church-ladyish. I noticed the same phenomenon with Ann Althouse. Care to enlighten a genuinely curious commenter?

brad said...

In Megan's case it's not that she drinks, but what she drinks.

In the divine Miss Althouse's case, it's that she's an alcoholic.

Anonymous said...

have you ever dated a woman brad? Girls often drink girlie drinks. It puzzles me as much as it does you but that seems to be the case. As for Ann, if she is indeed an alcoholic (evidence being that she occasionally photographs herself with a wine glass) then it seems insensitive to make light of it, doesn't it?

brad said...

My family has a limited history of alcoholism. Fortunately not involving me or my parents, but I'm not blind to its effects.
However, it's also funny in certain cases, Ann Althouse being one of them.
And Jason, I know plenty of very attractive girlie girls who think drinking 15 dollar hipster-yuppie drinks is.... dumb. It's not an inherent quality of the feminine to like sugary drinks where you can't taste the alcohol.

Anonymous said...

No argument from me on it being dumb to pay $15 for a sugary drink. It not being an unusual occurrence was my only point.
I also have some experience with alcoholism (not personally) and I am not sure what you see in Ann that leads you to your diagnosis. I really only read her, though, when she has said something that gets the interwebs in a tizzy so maybe you know better than I do.

Adam Eli Clem said...

Hi, Jason. Nice to hear from you.

McArdle has had a lot to say about teh drinking.

Good Times:

Let's be honest: for many of us, our happiest college memories ended up face down in a toilet.

"Stupid drinking age laws blah blah blah:"

It seems pretty clear to me that the drinking age is unconstitutional and immoral.

"It's a cultural thing, you wouldn't understand:"

Having brought a rich, and very foreign, culture with them, they clustered in urban areas so that they could preserve it, including a drinking culture that horrified the Protestants then flocking to temperance reform.

So, yeah, our "obsession" derives from her own frequent musings on the subject, not just her crimes against martinis.

As for Althouse, she drinks while vlogging. She vlogs while drunk. But let's be honest: for many of us, our happiest blog memories ended up bleary-eyed and slurring on camera.

Anonymous said...

She's right insofar as locking up the Sudafed is somewhat idiotic. Stopped clocks and all that.

I admire the civil libertarian views of some of the libertarians, but overall they're much more concerned with the freedom to pile up cash and screw your neighbors over than any other kind.

Until it affects them, that is. If she didn't have a cold, I'm sure Meggie'd be pleased at all the sniffling underclass persons who don't ahve the proper ID, and comforting herself with thoughts of addicts in withdrawal.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure, mch, that makes you feel all warm with moral superiority when you go to sleep at night but the libertarians I know care just as much about the poor and needy as you. Well, maybe not YOU, mch, because you're special. But as much as most people. They just disagree with you about the best way to accomplish certain goals.

Anonymous said...

Well, jasonc, I can say that we've apparently encountered different groups of libertarians, then. I also don't think that charging user fees for everything is helpful to the poor, but that's another ball o' wax.

And what's up with the poll? How does Ann get as many votes as the designated punching bag?

M. Bouffant said...

mch: It seems as if many libertarians are just angry about being inconvenienced. Many of the complaints about taxes are as much about the complexity of the forms as the necessity to pay for keeping the country "safe," etc.

I stopped in the drugstore on the way to meet a friend in order to pick up a little cold medicine.

The way she phrased that, it sounds as if she's going to "pick up a little cold medicine" from the friend she's going to meet, rather than @ the drugstore.