And... Back To Middle School Again!

I don't actually expect anybody to make real sense of this to me. I know this sort of thing has been going on all over the country for years and years now, and as many people as have tried to get me to understand it have failed. Whether the failure rests on their ability or my lack of brain power is still unknown. 

The NYT published an article by Jennifer Steinhauer of the Phoenix Journal titled "Nice Spot to Eat After Golf, but Women Are Barred." Apparently, the Phoenix Country Club allows women membership, but you cannot eat in the "men's grill room" unless you are a... man. Being a woman, I suppose I should be up in arms about this, but I have to confess my initial reaction is: WHO CARES? 

The article starts out, "When the men of the Phoenix Country Club saw their feeding ways in peril, they did not tarry. Some sent nasty e-mail messages, hectored players on the fairway and, for good measure, urinated on a fellow club member's pecan tree." Oh, goodie!! Where can I sign up to eat with these people, too??

Some of these people are in their 70's! How can people in their 70's have lived so long without growing up? This is the sort of behavior I would expect out of middle schoolers, not grown adults. And I'm talking about the behavior on both sides of the aisle. If you are not wanting women in your little eating area, act like an adult about it and simply say, "No, I'm sorry, but I think not." And if you're a woman (or a man who wants women in your eating area), spend your money on a different private club!! Ah, but I guess you needed me (the rocket scientist) to spell that one out for you because it was pretty complicated.

How did this particular bad behavior begin? The Van Sitterts, who have been club members for 30 years, two years ago decided that they wanted to eat eggs together in the morning in the men's grill room. They appealed to the board to change its policies and were shot down. So... the couple filed a complaint with the civil rights division of the Arizona attorney general's office.

The attorney general's office agreed with the couple and issued an advisory legal opinion that the club needed to comply with the state's anti-discrimination laws. Get this: "The office's investigation, according to a copy of its findings, noted the inadequacy of the women's facility while listing the lopsided benefits of the men's: three high-definition televisions, a buffet and a bar, and gorgeous views of the course."

This just kills me. You pay over ten thousand dollars a year to belong to a private club. For thirty years. After all that time, you decide the club is not what you wanted because you cannot eat your eggs together THERE. So do you decide to save yourselves ten grand a year and stay home to eat your eggs? NO. You have nothing better to do with your time, apparently, than to get the attorney general's office to make the private club you chose to belong to change their facilities to suit your very recent and not long-standing desire for morning breakfast. 

I don't get it. All of these people need to grow up. Find a group of people you can get along with and enjoy your life!