3.21.2010

Manners "R" Us Part II

Well, I did it – I completed my three long days of being polite and super friendly, even under some extremely trying circumstances. I was quite excited to begin, truly wondering how my life would change without any impatience showing – no sighing, groaning or moaning or rolling of the eyes. Here’s what happened:

DAY 1: Very windy here in Rochester, I mean super high blowing winds on Monday morning. As many of you know, I have some really bad hair days almost everyday and this was no exception. The wind literally blew me and my hair into my store, Tuesday Morning. My manager’s first words were “Wow, look at that hair – looks like you just rode in on your broom.” I HADN’T EVEN TOLD HIM ABOUT THE PROJECT AND I WAS ALREADY IN TROUBLE. I had to bite back the smartass remark I was ready to say him (and I am sure he expected). I just smiled and said “Thank you Dave. You are always so nice.” He really did have a shocked look on his face. OK, one incident down, how many more to go?

I was charming and polite and so friendly to everyone at the store and didn’t have any trouble until lunch time. Dave went out to get sandwiches for us and EVEN THOUGH I wrote out exactly what I wanted, somewhere along the way my order went south. I just smiled pleasantly and picked all the crap off my sandwich that wasn’t supposed to be there. The horseradish dressing was supposed to be on the side, but it wasn’t and this caused a major problem – SOGGY BREAD. Tough, tough to be happy after that.

DAY 2: I have a friend with a daughter about to be married so I went to purchase a gift at a store that will remain nameless – even though it has 3 of the same initials in its title and EVERYONE registers there. Nothing easy about this. They want you to go to the Registry Department where they will help you pull up the list EXCEPT there are three people waiting and only one salesclerk. THEN, when you finally get waited on, before you go to the register to pay, they want you to come back to them so they can be sure the gift is off the list, thus waiting in another line. WHY DO THEY MAKE FINDING THINGS ON THE LIST SO DIFFICULT? When I finally decide on something in my price range, of course it is only available online. Man, this really tested me since ordinarily I would be muttering under my breath and would disband the whole operation. I decided to send money to the bride and groom and got out of there with my humor intact.

The only thing worse than this is going to Babies “R” Us for a gift hunt. That place is NUTS and why is it that my children grew up perfectly well without every gadget known to mankind? The amount of stuff available in that store really is overwhelming.

DAY 3: SO HAPPY this will all be over today and I can go back to my cranky self. I get to work and on the displays I created the day before my co-workers have placed random items for the sole purpose of annoying me. On the lovely spring towel, candle, flower display is a GIGANTIC, UGLY FROG. I have worked on displays for Tuesday Morning for the last 5 years in two states and EVERYONE gets a charge out of putting oddball items on my displays. In Washington it was usually some weird stuffed animal or freakish clown. In any event, they all get a good chuckle out of it. Today there was also a pair of simply the MOST UNFORTUNATE LOOKING purple satin pillows with eyelet ruffles. I would use some other term, but Dave says we are not allowed to call things ugly anymore. He takes all the fun out of it. Anyway, the rest of the day was OK, until the drive home when someone honked at me! There was a stalled car in my lane and as I moved around it, I allowed the person if front of me to move also and the lady behind me just couldn’t bear it. Maybe SHE should try the manners project. Hope all your days are full of nice people who smile back when you smile at them.

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