Apparently, I Did a Good Deed! Who Knew?

A couple or so days ago, I was trying to watch a movie.  It wasn't late, but it seems I was tired, and I fell asleep.  What awakened me was the telephone.  My landline rings three times before it goes to voicemail.  By the time I was awake enough to know what awakened me, I missed the call.  But I have caller ID, and I checked.  I think it was around 6:00 PM, and David Hernandez called me.

I have a policy.  Unless my daughter calls, or sometimes Chuck Ross, if someone doesn't leave me a message asking for a return call, I don't call back.  David didn't leave a message, so I didn't call him.

Late this morning, David called me again.  But I was in the middle of something, and didn't want to be distracted, so I again resorted to my policy: if David wants to talk to me, he'll leave me a message asking for a return call, and he'll get one.  Again, no message.

Later than that, I was on the phone, and it rang again.  I checked, and it was David again.  Well, I was getting curious, so I put my other call on hold, and switched over to David.  He started to tell me something, and I let him know I was on the other line.  Either this was really quick, or he could ask me to call him back.  He said it was really quick.  He called to tell me he really likes this blog, and he feels "like a protagonist in a movie."  I told him I was glad to know he enjoys reading the posts, and that it was exciting for him that he felt like a movie star.  I then returned to my call.

This is the second time David has called me to tell me some version of he "gets a kick out of the blog," he finds it funny, or, as it was today, that he's somehow flattered to get attention.  It was Oscar Wilde who said "the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."  David is apparently an adherent.  Not to mention, of course, that he thinks he's telling me how little he cares what I or anyone else says about him.  As if there was any doubt that he doesn't care.

I know what has been said about David in this blog.  I've said most of it.  And frankly, it hasn't been flattering.  There were a few ways David could have handled this "problem."  Since I've talked about him repeatedly, and several other people have said, either in this blog or in public comments, the same things, he could have applied a bit of introspection.  Maybe there's something he would come to think he could and should change.  He could have called me, or come by, to let me know how concerning to him it is that anyone should misunderstand him.  He could have explained himself, or perhaps apologized.  He could have defended himself, and disputed anything he thought I got wrong, and which he would presumably have thought others, too, have gotten wrong.

But no, that's not how David works.  His angle is to try to tell me he couldn't care less what I say.  In fact, he's dismissive, and if anything, it only amuses him, and makes him feel as if he's in the limelight.  I just live here, and my only importance to David is that I provide part of his oversized salary.

I was talking today to someone who has government experience, and who watched last night's meeting.  He said that if he'd been on the Commission, and witnessed David's intrusiveness, his attitudes toward Commissioners, and his contributions, like that he didn't approve of things being added to the agenda, he would have fired David "on the spot."

But fortunately for David, he doesn't have to deal with people like the person who called me, or with me.  He can thumb his nose at people like us, and he does.  As long as he has three Commissioners who have no idea what they're doing, are grossly incompetent, and frankly don't care, David can carry on any way he wants to.

If David gets any royalties from the imaginary movie in which he further imagines himself to be the star, I hope he remembers who wrote the screenplay.  If David makes money from the job he's doing, I should, too.  He's no longer just a "legend in his own mind."  He thinks I helped his fame.