I’ve been meaning to post this for quite a while now, but I’ve finally gotten around to it. As most people heard about a few months ago, WWE wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and child before hanging himself in his home. It was a huge fiasco for the WWE, who came under fire for the stress their touring roster is constantly under, as well as bringing up the whole steroid debacle again. I thought it was pretty funny that the WWE had a tribute to the late Benoit on one of their numerous weekly shows before the facts were in, and thus had egg on their face yet again for paying tribute to a murderer. I have a sick sense of humor, and thus find humor in things that a lot of people consider humorless or crass to laugh at. I don’t think it’s funny that he killed his wife and child, but that doesn’t mean I’m above exploiting it for shock value and, let’s face it, a cheap laugh. If I were pretentious, I might say something like “I’m reminding everyone that death is always just around the corner, live every moment like it’s your last” or “Millions of children starve to death around the world each year. This is my reaction to the media’s overabundant coverage of this relatively minor tragedy.” It’s a good thing I’m not pretentious, because both of those statements are completely generic and full of shit.

We have a series of displays at the counter where I work, and for a while we had a morbid habit of displaying DVDs featuring recently deceased celebrities. Steve “the Crocodile Hunter” Irwin and Anna Nicole Smith were but two of the celebrities featured on this display. After the whole Benoit incident, someone grabbed a used copy of a WWE DVD we had featuring Benoit on the cover and put it up front. I’m certainly not the most witty or artistic person, but I do love to squeeze in a shitty joke wherever possible (ask my coworkers). Taking advantage of how Benoit was posed, I spent maybe five minutes doodling little caricatures of a woman and a baby being smothered by a pillow, plus a noose for good measure. I’m never sure when I’ve reached “too much.” So anyway, what follows is a scan of the DVD itself, with my little cartoons overlaid with scotch tape:

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Not that great, but I thought it was funny. I didn’t put it back up on display like that, but someone I work with did, and it received lots of reluctant laughs and a few sarcastic “You wrong for that!” types of replies. No one was ever actually offended by it, or I should say, no one I ever actually met face to face. A few weeks later I heard rumblings of an email a coworker received where some guy had complained about my antics. It wasn’t long before the email made the rounds and I eventually had my own printed out copy as a trophy for piercing some wrestling fan’s thin skin. Here’s a pic of the email, with a crease from where it was stored in my pocket:

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Here’s the actual text in case the picture ever peters out:

My wife and I visited your store around 1:45 pm on Tuesday, 7/10, and we saw on the counter a wrestling DVD with Chris Benoit on the cover. Someone had taken the time to draw and cut out stickers depicting Benoit killing his wife and son, and added them to the DVD.

We have been regular customers at Earshot, even during its days as Manifest Discs, but we will no longer visit your store because of this appalling display.

I called back to your store to (politely) express my displeasure, suggesting that it be taken down, and that the person who created the display should be reprimanded. I also stated that I would no longer purchase wrestling DVDs from your store because of this display.

The guy I spoke with replied sarcastically that the display would not be taken down, and that the person that created it would not be reprimanded. When I asked why, he said that since I would not be buying wrestling DVDs from the store, it didn’t matter.

Because of this despicable display and the unprofessional attitude I received when I expressed my displeasure, we will not be shopping at Earshot.

I realize that any company has the right to display whatever they like in their store, but I think this display is in poor taste, and I don’t consider it to be good business to thumb your nose at paying customers. That’s the fastest way to lose business, just as you’ve lost mine.

First off, I’ll admit it: I’m surprised that this email is worded as cohesively as it is. Second, I’ve got to say that it’s a little ironic for someone who’s so into a pastime that’s as violent and crass as wrestling to be offended by some poorly-drawn cartoons. It was our operations manager Randy who answered the phone and more or less laughed at the guy’s requests. I take great pleasure in the fact that Randy pointed out how futile it would be for us to remove an offensive display for a customer who already claimed he would no longer shop at our store. Most everyone else I work with got a laugh out of the failed fiasco as well.

My point is this: anything that can be laughed at, should be laughed at. Don’t be so thin-skinned about everything and learn to laugh at life (and death). I could get on some high horse about the First Amendment, but if I learned anything in school, it’s that there are few harder groups to teach than rabid wrestling fans.