Big-time Dilemma

I was sitting in front of the TV, staring at a big-time dilemma. This particular TV was located in the breakroom at my grocery store (yes, my grocery store - I own it, but I still bag groceries on occasion, cause it's fun), and I was sitting in front of the TV because what else was I supposed to do on my break? Read?

I had been flipping through the channels and noticed that Star Trek: TNG was on. TNG (along with Sesame Street, Square One, and Ducktales) raised me as a child, and I really wanted to watch it, except that - DILEMMA - I knew that a male-teenaged bagger was coming to the breakroom shortly - a decidedly un-nerdy male-teenaged bagger. The sort of bagger raised on the M-TV.

Save for the near-supernatural uniting force of Minnesota Twins baseball, the M-TV is the programming of choice in the breakroom.

And I knew male-teenaged bagger would want to watch the M-TV. And, worse yet, I knew that male-teenaged bagger would definitely not want to watch ST:TNG.

So there I sat with my dilemma - keep the channel where it was and watch the show I wanted to, or give into not-quite-my-peer pressure and change it to the M-TV.

It was a difficult choice, but I had a couple variables on my side. First, I had arrived in the breakroom before male-teenaged bagger, which meant I had first-rights to the TV. And second, as assistant regional manager, I could fire him.

(Not really. But I could make him clean up the backroom - which is almost as bad.)

As I heard his footsteps approaching the breakroom, I weighed the pros and cons and came to a decision: I would hold my ground and watch my show.

Then, as his footsteps grew even closer to the breakroom, I changed my mind and turned the channel to the M-TV.

I am a coward.

(Mr. Hollom from Master and Commander is pictured at the top because he was the first coward that came to the top of my head. Discussion Question: Who are other notable movie or literature cowards?)