Scattershot

1. So sorry for the crabby post last night. I am really glad Lisa is going, and I'll be fine. :-) She is in the air right now (8:00 pm of the 30th) and won't land until 2 pm on their local time. She has been sick with a cold recently but it has proved to be a blessing. She felt too sick to worry!

2. Today's story #1
Equine Mayhem, or a story of mud, manure, and vicious animals.

If we were to compare each person's experiences between the hours of five and six this morning and judge them for the highest level of excitement I bet you all that I would win. Hands down. To begin with, probably most of you were still sleeping at that hour. :-) These days I'm up around five to take care of my horses and this morning was no different.

It all started when the culottes I normally wear were still in the laundry. I threw on one of my long Israel skirts and ran out the door.

I like being up so early in the morning, except that you can't see anything. I hate it especially after watching movies like The Fugitive or the Borne movies. Good thing Daddy taught me how to use my big Maglite flashlight as a weapon! I dare all Treadstone operatives or one-armed men to stand up to that!

The horses had decided not to come in from the pasture, which meant I had to go out to get them. In the dark. At least it's all wide open in the pasture- that way nobody can hide behinde trees and sneak up behind me.

I loaded my jacket pockets with carrots, grabbed a halter and lead and trudged out, flashlight in hand. Right where the pasture meets the barn area there is a mud hole. There must be 20 or 30 yards of it with no choice but to slog through. I slogged through and found the horses near the back end of the pasture.

Then the fun began. Mix muddy, wet weather, pitch blackness, four overly active horses, one nervous girl and several carrots and what do you have? Well...

All of them crowded around me- eager for carrots. As I passed them out one of the wretched animals bit me in a fit of ill-temper. I returned the favor with a hard wack to the head with just as much ill-temper. Then I put the halter on the pony and decided to ride him back. He is fairly short, so I can usually jump and slither onto him pretty quick. Only just as I performed the first half of this manuver and was drapped over his back the other horses took off. Naturally the pony took off too. And naturally he didn't want me to go along. So he bucked me off. Thankfully I wasn't too far off the ground to begin with and managed to keep my hand on the lead rope.

I decided to walk back.

Back through the mudhole we went. Slog, slog, slog... slop, slop slop. Now my skirt was six inches deep in mud, and suddenly my shoe came off. But with four jumpy horses in tow I was in no position to do anything about it. After I got the horses into the barn I shed my other shoe and headed back for the first in my stocking feet. In fact, though I did find it, I didn't bother to put them back on. Want to know one benefit of darkness? One can't see what one is stepping in, in one's stocking feet. :-) Now isn't that an edifying thought?

So, while you were all sleeping soundly in your warm beds (except Andrea of course) I was being bitten, bucked off, and generally attacked by mud and manure. Anybody want to trade jobs?

3. Story of the day #2
Nasty Lady at Work
I am loving this customer service thing. I love starting to recognize the regular customers- I even know a couple names, and will soon be able to match them with the items they always get. I enjoy bustling about doing a myriad little things, being cheerful with people, fixing hot chocolate on wet mornings, and endlessly ringing things up on the register. I might even eventually be able to decifer all the weird abbreviations on my register screen and have to stop whining for help from the nearest coworker. I am so happy!

But then, in the middle of my blissful existence steps the Nasty Lady. I've had some negative or slightly snobby input over the last few days, but thankfully no truly horrid 'scenes'. But today She came in. I rang up her order, and took her gift card to scan. Only it didn't scan. Run get the manager. Manager says O, just enter the number on the back. Said number is ninteen digits long. I enter it incorrectly two times before getting it the third. Then the customer looked at her receipt and informed me that I had given her the wrong coffee, merely pennies more in price. That was my fault, I admit, but now I was well and truly rattled. She compounded the problem by informing me in a nasty voice that she had told what she wanted four times. She wanted the different corrected. Guess what- can't do that after I ring up the order! Thankfully the manger was standing at my elbow.

Manager to Nasty Lady- Do you want me to give you back the extra eleven cents?

Yes she did (most emphatically) And look! Now my buzzer is going off and my soup is ICE COLD!

Manager- do you want the eleven cents in cash or back on your card.

YES I want it on my card! (DUH!)

Manager- do I still have your card? Nope, its in her wallet. She digs it out and continues talking about FREEZING soup. Meanwhile I had reliquished my position to the manager and stood in the corner, rattled to the core. The lady stormed off without her card to fetch her freezing soup and the manager procceded to re-type the ninteen digit code so she could add the eleven cents back on. Meanwhile she cussed the lady out under her breath, something I am sad to admit soothed my nerves more than it should have.

Sigh. The wonders of customer service. I suppose I'll learn to deal with them with more aplomb and less nerves, but you know what I really want? I want to learn to deal with them with more love. Maybe that lady had had a horrible morning or was depressed. Maybe her cat just died. Maybe she doesn't know if she's going to heaven or not. OR... maybe all excuses fail and it is just sheer carnal bad temper? Can I learn to love them even then? It is so easy to cuss people out under your breath or in your heart, but how do you get Christ's perspective on that individual soul- eternal, infinitely precious, loved by God?

Anyway, I am going to stop writing now. Tata.