Coffee Talk {Living Outside the Stacks}1. A New York court ruled that a bus driver who failed a random drug test can keep her job. Did I mention that this bus driver is a school bus driver? The firing was determined to be “too severe for a 10 year employee”. There are so many words tumbling around in my head right nowStudents are kicked off sports teams, people go to jail for possession but someone who is driving around the streets in a big ol’ bus full of students cannot be fired for failing a drug test? The school district had argued that it had adopted a zero~tolerance policy for positive drug tests and this woman failed, therefore, her job was terminated. The arbitrator ordered the bus driver be reinstated, minus six months back pay, and that she undergo drug testing and substance~abuse counseling. This just goes to show how completely backward we have become; it’s better to save the job of a drug abuser than to save the lives of students.

2. A mother in New Zealand died at the age of 30 from cardiac arrest do to her drinking at least 10 liters of Coca~Cola per day. sigh Apparently, this woman was so addicted to the soda that she had to have her teeth removed because all of the sugar caused her teeth to decay. And at least one of her eight children was born without enamel on his teeth. And this was not a sign to this woman that she needed to rethink her lifestyle choices? I don’t blame the soda company at all. I blame the woman. This is a matter of personal choice and she chose to make decisions that eventually led to her death and now there are 8 kids who will grow up without a mother. I hope that soda was worth it. Like Barry White said in his song Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, “too much of anything is not good for you.”

3. The country who built its culture on all things crazy bagel foreheads, anyone? is demanding that a replica of Michelangelo’s masterpiece, David, be given underpants. Apparently, the 16~foot replica is offensive and not good for the children. But putting saline filled plastic in the forehead is OK? Really, people? Oh, I’m acting like y’all know what I’m talking about… The latest fad in Japan is for people to fill circular pods with saline, insert them in their foreheads, and press in the center so it looks like a bagel. Kid. You. Not.

What had you scratchin’ your head this week?