Finger-less Folks

You may have read my Genius post a week or so ago. If not, dude, it's a good one. What were you thinking? Go read it.

One of the things I mentioned in that post was my buddy's mother-in-law who is missing a few fingers (and a few marbles too), and how she makes a point to shake hands with that hand and make sure everyone sees the missing digits.

So today I went to the gym. I hand my membership card to the guy at the front desk like always. He was a new guy who I hadn't seen before. He asks me how I am doing, and I say, "Good- how are you?" He kind of sighs and says "doin' okay." Then he takes my card which he is holding in his right hand, and instead of just giving it to me, he switches it over to his left hand and sticks it in between his index and middle finger. I go to reach for it, and notice that he is missing half of his index finger.

Don't get me wrong, losing a finger would suck, and I really feel for anyone who has had to go through that. But that said, why didn't he just hand me the card with his right (five-fingered) hand? It was in that hand to begin with! Plus the way he said "doin' okay" as he handed it to me, it was as if he was saying "I'm doin' ok... except for THIS FINGER I'M MISSING! LOOK AT IT!!! Look at my finger!"

It wasn't even all the way gone either. It was like a half stubsy. I mean in appendage loss that is pretty minor right? Better than losing your arm from the elbow down because you had a water ski rope wrapped around it and wiped out (like my aunt's 2nd husband did). Cheer up pal. You've only got 0.5 less fingers than I do. That's nothing. Life is good.
P.S. I fully expect to lose a finger now for making fun of finger-less folks...