Black Panthers, Dogs and adjusting my Attitude

Sunday. Oh, church all day. But you know what? I'm feeling a little spunky. So, I'm like I'm going to gamble on Jesus. I'm going to "Come on, Jesus, come on." All right? And so, I go asked my dad and I said, "Dad, can I borrow the car?" And what does my dad say? He says, "No." Not only does he say no but he gives me a lecture on top of it. No would have been just enough but he is like knowing... All these kinds of stuff. And so, I take all that and so I say my dad has what kind of an attitude? A bad attitude or a negative attitude. And consequently, what did he say about my attitude? That I have a negative or bad attitude. So, what is it that actually determines an attitude? Perspective? It starts with G and ends in O. Your goal dictates your attitude.

Think about some of your employees, right? When they have that attitude, it is clear what? What's clear? That they're not... That work is interfering with their goal. I remember working in a couple of places and people are like, "Man, if I haven't had to work today, I would be doing this or that other thing." Guess what I have told him? "Go do it. Quit bugging me and go do what your goal is because you won't be happy. As a matter of fact, you make the rest of us miserable."

And so, attitude is a symptom. So, if I see someone with attitude and I deal with kind of a special team in infant, right? Minnesota family investment program and so I'm dealing with social workers and they deal with people who have lots of attitude. And so, one of the things that we know that if we have a person that is giving us a lot of attitude, it is obvious that they are not what?

Meeting their goal. So, when we have someone with an attitude, what is the first thing we have to find out to be able to be hopefuls in them? What's your goal? What's your goal? And I'm sure we all have been to a department store and either had a problem with an item or it didn't fit or you got a lot of complaints with the warranty or what not. And you have those people who are not listening to you at the customer service pieces and we'll just give you coupons. No, I don't want coupons or we'll just give you 50% off of that. No, I don't want 50%. This is funny, right? So, I had a dog that is a Chow Chow. Is anyone familiar with a Chow Chow? All right. So, they are really fluffy and they have a black tongue and curly tail and Cassius, that was my boy. Oh, Cassius, I love my dog Cassius, right?

So, we go to a... So, Cassius... I forgot what happened but his hair got a little mad because if you don't comb it like in on a regular basis, it will be tangled. So, I decided this is summer time. Oh, this is... So, it's summer time and we are going to get those tangles out. Well, my girlfriend at the time was like, "Well, I'll cut his hair." I'm like "It doesn't sound like a good idea." But she can piss him, right?

So, I come home and I look at my dog and he looks a little different. And she was like, "Well, I can fix it." I was like "No, let's just take it somewhere. You done way too much work already. I'm sure it was tiring. Let's just have somebody else do it, right?" So, Io take him over to PetSmart. Now, I thought PetSmart knew what they were doing first of all, right? So, we take him over to PetSmart and so, I gave him specific instructions.

I say, "Look, obviously, this is a Chow and I'm wanting him to keep that Mayan look. So, I know, just nick over here and nick over her. Cut that part down and leave the rest so leave his tail bushy and leave his head bushy. I know he is going to look goofy but that is what I want, right?" And so, I leave the dog. That same day, I actually have dental. I have a dental procedure that was going to be done, right? So, I dropped the dog off.

I go get my dental procedure done and then, they call me and tell me that my dog is ready. So, I go in to go pick up my dog and I had a cavity filled. So, I still had... My mouth was still numb and so, nothing is working. So, it was easier instead of biting my tongue, it was easier for me to like this. So, my tongue was contained and what do you all think? Now, I do not want to be alarmed but I'm African American.

And there's something about talking like this as an African American that is extremely intimidating to white people. So, I'm already like this and so, I'm looking for my dog and I cannot find him. And I see this lamb. I see this little lamb running around the pet store and I'm like... Right? So, I realize that they have shaved my dog completely. And so, I'm talking to the guy and he's like "That would be $74." No, no $74 here.

So, I'm like talking like this, "What is going..." My girlfriend is going to kill me because I just put it off on her, right? Because she is not there and it's easy to do. "She is going to kill me. I got to put up with this woman." So, at this point, I have decided I'm not paying for this haircut but they are trying to make me pay for the haircut. And I'm like this is not happening.

And so, finally, the manager comes and he's like "Sir, I understand that you are upset." I'm like "I'm not upset. I'm not upset. All I just want... I'm not paying for this." He was like "OK, Sir, well, how do we work this out?" And so, they brought me like mugs and cups and all sorts. Everyone is crazy that I walk out with bags, fancy stuff.

But I was never satisfied because I left specific instructions and I wanted them to hear that they not follow those instructions. And so, I had an attitude and guess what? I've never gone back to PetSmart. Right? And I will not go to PetSmart. As a matter of fact, I might right a Facebook posting about how to boycott, no I am just kidding.

So, those are some things to remember in terms of how to talk with people and things that I have learned from my classmates. So, this is me as a new baby. Wasn't I cute? And this is... That's me and that's my brother Will and my sister Krystal. And it is really funny. Krystal has five kids and two girls. Krystal was bald and her two daughters were also bald which is just like weird.

Her boys have full heads of hair. It's interesting and then this is my grandmother and my grandfather. This is my Uncle John and this is my Uncle Waldo and this is my Dad William. And this is my family. This is our Cosby years. If you look more closely, you can see Theo, Vanessa and other staff. And I said that at one thing and one of the kids, "You were really in the Cosby?" "No."

And so, OK, I love Facebook and I hate Facebook all at the same time. Love it and hate it, right? I love it because I have put my persona on Facebook. And I'm a highly evolved individual, right? So, I do vermicultures so I have worms that you may compost to in my kitchen. I eat organic. I do yoga. I do landscaping. I'm highly evolved. But Facebook... People keep putting up pictures that are blowing my image.

And so, this is one of those pictures that I have forgotten about and hope it would just go away. And as a friend of... It's a picture of my friend, Samesha, and I at a concert and Samesha is holding a boozie, a semi automatic weapon in her left hand and I'm holding a double barrel soft air shotgun to Sharon's head. Sharon's in the middle and Sharon is like "Oh, my goodness" because that is cute for some reason. I know that could be scary but let me put it in context because the context will make it equally as scary, right?

So, we were at a concert and I don't know if the band sings, it doesn't matter but the name of the band kind of give you the spirit of the event. And we were at the concert by a band called Public Enemy, right? So, Public Enemy. So, we were fighting the power and also, I have to apologize because in this picture, I'm also sagging my pants. We kind of started that in the late 80's and early 90's of the second instinct and I just...

We did not know the... Pandora's box that we open because now people... They are showing their boxers. They are showing their trump stamps. It's just crazy all the stuff that they are showing that. And so... But that was it. And I thank God that I don't have to be who I used to be. That I can learn changing growth but there's one thing that you must know about me that is extremely important that is a theme of this picture.

And that is I am my father's son.