Crusty Old Asshole

Okay. So tonight I'm walking around in the Commissary shopping for groceries. Yes kids, THE MACHINE cannot live on beer and porn alone - for he also needs nutrition to fuel his insanities and blasphemies. I've got my mother nagging me about what I should be eating versus what I want to be eating (chips, frozen pizza and soda) when some crusty old asshole starts eyeballing me up and down. At first I'm thinking he's looking at the bags of chips I'm standing next to, only it turns out he's looking directly at my uniform. "Excuse me - are you on duty?" "Why?" "Your badge is on your uniform" Now before I proceed any further, I will say that it is not a line badge but just a simple ID badge where I work. The KMC area has tons of installations where people were some stupid badge just to make themselves feel important and look cool in front of others. It wasn't a secure area badge either but one that some asshole somewhere pushed for, most likely to justify their job in the military some how. Anycase, back to the story. This crusty old dude has to be at least in his late 50's or something - perhaps a contractor or some retiree - I have no idea since this dude is wearing his Mr Rogers outfit and dragging around his fat ugly wife with a shopping cart full of cat food and cleaning supplies - all I know is that he's making a scene over something so stupid and ridiculous. "I just got off work" I explained to him, politely yet firmly. "Well you need to take it off" he replied emphatically. "Yes sir" I fired back in a half-assed tone of respect. My mother looks at me, looks at him and then decides to have a shit-fit in the store, asking why it is this guy is being a total douche to me for no reason. "Because he can be." Technically the old bastard was correct. If you really wanna live your life by some regulation then every second of every day, SOMEONE out there is violating some dress and appearance guidance or whatever - frankly the way I see it, there's more to life than sweating something so stupid and inane. Believe it or not I'm the kind of person that focuses on the 99% of stuff that's done right versus the 1% that's wrong and fucked up. It sounds like bullshit but if you saw my work ethic you'd agree with this statement. I just use this piece of shit blog to vent and make an ass of myself anonymously - that's all. I took my badge off for just a moment until I was out of eyesight of this geriatric fucker and then put it back on fully knowing that nobody else gives a damn whether or not I have this stupid piece of plastic stuck to my shirt or up my ass where the dead gerbil and canary fight for breathing space. I've learned that being in the military means you're wrong no matter what and it's far better just to appease whatever dickhead is bothering you for the moment in order to get him out of your face, than it is to sit there and argue about something stupid and pointless and then get your ass reamed for being insubordinate later on. For the rest of the car ride home I had to listen to both scrutiny and then praise for not losing my cool in public and taking it all with a grain of salt. It's all in a day's work the way I see it. Chances are if I ever see old iron-butt again he won't remember me from the next asshole he decides to harass publicly. Perhaps if I'm lucky I'll be wearing my favorite Venom t-shirt with the huge Satanic pentagram on the front of it and a marijuana leaf ski cap. Give the fucker a heart attack and rid the world of one less crusty old asshole.