Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Straight Jacket

Ever have those days? A day when you are so close to the edge that if o-n-e more thing goes wrong you are certain your loved ones will summon professionals bearing a straight jacket.

That's my day today. As a reminder, we serve 93 different countries and I am in charge of customer support and sales plus sharing technical support duties. I woke up dreaming about customer service issues because I am so far behind at work. It's been a busy day plus I had an emotional conversation regarding a volunteer organization of which I am on the Board of Directors. I felt misunderstood, had difficulty relating the crux of the issues at hand and left the conversation feeling as bad as when I entered it.

Running to the place with all the answers and comfort, I'd love to say that my time in the Psalms this afternoon solved all my problems. I found the answer, but I still clung to my "I must get everything done today" mentality. In that vein, I decided to go to a happy place where there were no problems. The grocery store. It's a happy place, I tell you!

After purchasing my dinner items, I proceeded to the 10 items or less register. After all of my things I have to do today, I decided I could atleast have someone else check me out at the grocery store instead of doing the self pay register.

I had to wait while the tellers changed shifts and then when I reached for the credit card reader, it broke off in my hands. I stood there for 2 split seconds wondering if what I was seeing was actually happening. Surely this short, happy and trouble-free "field trip" was not also ending with me having to trouble shoot something else in life.

With a deep breath, I grabbed the cable and plugged it into the reader still in my right hand. As a technical options screen flashed on the reader I prayed a quick arrow prayer along the lines of, "Lord, this is yours to solve". Would you believe that the thing rebooted all by itself? All the while the sweet little senior citizen cashier was teasing me about calling the grocery police on me for tearing up their store. "I need a manager to Register Six", he bellowed over the loud speaker. It was at this moment that I assessed the situation.
  1. I had just purchased a rotisserie chicken. I did not have to catch this chicken, kill it, pluck it, cut it up, cook it or package it.
  2. I had just purchased a potato salad for which I did not have to grow, harvest, peel, cook or mix it.
  3. I had just purchased a tiny apple pie for which I did not have to grow, harvest, peel, cook or package it.

I told the fun little cashier guy, "You know, if this is the worst thing that happens to me today, I have had a great day." His response, "You've got a great attitude!!"

Yeeaaah. He doesn't know how narrowly I escaped being wrapped in a white twill jacket with wrist straps in the back.

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