Thoughts on Britt McHenry

Written by Heather Foley

Have you ever wondered how Regina George would have turned out if she didn’t get hit by that bus?  She probably would have become an entitled shrew who viciously berates regular ol’ people just doing their jobs, kinda like ESPN reporter Britt McHenry.  Now I’m not saying Miss McHenry should get hit by a bus, but homegirl needs a heaping of humble pie with a side of manners.  

As pretty much everyone in Southie can attest to, getting towed blows.  Seriously, it’s the worst – I get that, but what I don’t get is acting like a soulless monster once your car gets towed.  I may make a joke or two about how I’ve singlehandedly financed the owner of D&D Towing’s Cape house when I go pick up my car, but personally attacking whoever was working there has never crossed my mind.  I have to assume nothing so vile has crossed any of your minds, no matter how much it hurts to fork over a couple hundred bucks.  And for the record I’m not even necessarily that nice, or even nice at all.  I’m just not a terrible person.

And if I was to act like harpy, I’d like to think I’d suck it up and apologize, and apologize for real.  McHenry released a statement saying her emotions got the best of her and she was sorry for her actions but let’s be real, this is maybe one step better than those awful “sorry you’re offended but…” apologies people in the public eye seem to love so much.  How about instead of blaming an “intense and stressful moment” you just say, “there’s no excuse for the way I acted and I’m very sorry”?  Or how about apologizing the person you wronged instead of sending out a half-hearted tweet?  That would probably work.

Now before any white knights start saying everyone has had a bad day and/or yelling about free speech, let me say that first, yes everyone has bad days.  A lot of people have worse days than McHenry probably had that day and they don’t spiral into a whirling dervish of entitlement.  Even on my worst day (and I’ve had some doozies) I have never even come close to that level of nastiness, not by a mile.  And as far as free speech, yes this is America and we’re free to say whatever we want, and we are free to suffer the consequences.  

Ugly is as ugly does ( h/t Forrest Gump) and Britt McHenry showed us all how ugly she really is, but hopefully we can all learn a little from this.  Next time you find yourself starting to be a dick to a Comcast or National Grid rep or whoever on the phone, get a grip, remind yourself not to pull a Britt (aka be a bee-otch), and sincerely say, “have a nice day.”  If nothing else please promise you’ll never tell anyone “lose some weight, baby girl,” okay?