RIP Andy Rooney, He Was My Kind Of Crotchety Curmudgeon
As a kid my Dad watched 60 Minutes on CBS each week, and I remember always waiting for the Andy Rooney segment of the news program. Maybe my interest in Andy Rooney’s segment each week is why I write a blog that often picks apart corporations and large government bureaucracies … who knows. What I do know is that the death of Andy Rooney today, at the age of 92, is a loss for all those that love to watch an intelligent complaint.
Yes, I said an intelligent complaint. People complain every day, especially when it comes to airlines, hotels, car rentals and airport security, but many of these complaints are baseless rants of emotionally charged kvetching, without any point other than to complain. Each week Andy Rooney sat down at his messy desk, with a cluttered wall of books behind him, bushy eyebrows and neatly combed hair to complain about something … but he did it with style, research and a point, even if the point wasn’t always so obvious.
Andy Rooney made some great complaints about the travel and airline industries over the years. His gripes were the same as many others, but he seemed to say them in a more intelligent way and he did so with a crotchety curmudgeon presence that wreaked of the old guy sitting on his porch yelling “Get Off My Lawn!”
So Rest In Peace you grumpy old man who made me smile every Sunday.
Below is one of my favourite Andy Rooney segments on airline fees.
Happy Flying!
