Thursday, July 23, 2009

It's All Better Now

(My Bad!)
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I haven't mentioned MOW since I've had to pick up from the new site and that is because it had turned me into a crabby bitch. When I got there the first day it wasn't too horrible. I had maybe 12 people. And I was training that girl so I had a helper. The next week I had 14 and I was pretty irritated and thinking about quitting, then afterwards I let it go, but then, the next Wednesday I had 16 people and basically went berserk. I was furious and even though I kept telling the helper lady, "I'm sorry if it seems like I'm taking this out on you," I still felt the need to apologize to her the next time I saw her.
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So what happened was, after I fumed and fussed while packing my stuff that third week, as soon as I got to my car I called the office. I told them that A) It was bad enough that they moved the place so out of the way, but B) SIXTEEN people was RIDICULOUS! I was seriously in a rage. She misunderstood me and said, "So you're quitting, you won't be back?" I said, "No. I wouldn't do that, but you will have to find a replacement for me because 16 people is too many." I told her there was no reason I should have two pages of people. Then, THEN, and this killed me, she said, "Sixteen is our maximum and many of the others also have 16 people." I snapped back with "Really? (And you have to picture that word drawn out to last about 7 seconds) ...That's odd, because the lady in there said she couldn't understand why MY list was so long when ALL THE OTHER people's lists were so short." So the MOW office lady said she would call me later after my route and we would talk about this.
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She didn't call until the next day and she told me she had dropped four people from my list. We had a calmer talk because I was comfortably at home on my couch and not out in my truck in the heat in a RAGE. But for some reason, the next Wednesday I was all irritated again and then even last Wednesday, even though My Sweetie took the day off to go with me, I still felt crabby.
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So last night (Tuesday night) I had a very loooonnng talk with myself. I realized that every Wednesday morning when I left the house I would get mad all over again about the new pick up site. I also realized that this accomplished absolutely nothing and just made for a bad day. I decided to be chipper and do something different and I ran my route backwards starting from the north end. That actually makes more sense since the new place is so far north. Yes, another one of those, "Why didn't I think of that before?" things. It was all kinda funny doing it all in reverse and I realized I had parked in front of that fire hydrant and had a good laugh. (I snapped that through the back window of my little truck. And that's the trailer with all those feral kittens.) I won't park there again - it wouldn't be so funny if I got a ticket.
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And after my strange backward route, which went very smoothly, I treated myself to catfish. And it was delicious:
Then I spent the afternoon at Pocket's drinking beer with my daughter and we laughed so hard we had tears. I hope our trip will be like that and I hope the rest of my Wednesdays will be like that.

20 comments:

VioletSky said...

Are you delivering hot meals? Because I wouldn't like to be #16, then.

Jazz said...

You're a better person than me. I probably would have quit. 16 deliveries is ridiculous.

Daryl said...

Amazing how dense people can be.

Fish looks good.

geewits said...

VioletSky,
~~Exactly! And you can't make time for any chitchat. Mr.s V wanted to show me something one of those days and I had to tell her, "I'm sorry, but I have to run."

Jazz,
~~It really is. See note to VioletSky.

Daryl,
~~It's the best catfish on earth!

Elaine said...

I've been thinking of volunteering for MOW!

Mr. Jazz said...

Be the Wizard, Geewits, be the Wizard...

geewits said...

Elaine,
~~You should do it. I can give you lots of pointers!

Mr. Jazz,
~~That's me. The Wizard of Beer.

Carole said...

Gee, good backwards thinking. :)
The catfish looks tasty. What are the greens in the bowl?

geewits said...

Carole,
~~Really? You're from Texas and didn't realize that was green tomato relish? With catfish? Really? ;)

Carole said...

Texas is like a good man...always has a surprise or two left even after 40 years!! haha That's 40 years in Texas, and 10 in ...some other state, and that state certainly wasn't the state of euphoria.

Carole said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carole said...

Oops, my comment posted twice? So I deleted the repeat.

Scarlet said...

I'm glad you didn't quit and had your say, and that you had a good Wednesday with great catfish, wonderful company and of course, your BEER. (I knew you were going to top off the day with the beer.)

PS - I think you have such an awesome relationship with your daughter! I hope it stays that way forever.

geewits said...

Carole,
~~That's funny you didn't mention the icky state. heh heh.

Scarlet,
~~Our relationship could easily be charted and it would look like ocean waves. I really do like when it's cresting, though.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Elaine is here, too!! Hi Elaine. And, ya, volunteerism is a funny thing. It's very difficult to find good people to motivate and organize volunteers so that they don't just end up feeling used and abused. I'm glad they adjusted things to a more sane level finally. And PS what is that they're serving with the catfish?

Elaine said...

The reason I have been thinking of volunteering for MOW is an entirely selfish one. All 4 of my grandparents are dead (tho I did not kill any of them) and in my neighborhood there is an abundance of old folks. Scads of them! Probably b/c it is neighborhood of 1950s 2 bedroom bungalows and the oldsters bought their houses new way back when.

Anyway, they are so adorable b/c a number of them have Barca Loungers right inside their immaculate garages and mid-day, they just open up their garage door, settle into their chair and watch the world go by! Often with some sort of tiny, aged dog on their lap. It slays me.

Also, this one old guy on my street actually wipes down the shingles on his house with a bucket of warm water and a sponge! Monthly! Can you imagine?

So, I want to be friends with the old folks but I am not quite sure how to go about it. It would be so awkward to just walk up to them and say "Hi! You're old! Want to be my friend?" They'd probably close their garage door on me.

geewits said...

Xup,
~~When you sit down they bring you a basket of bread (rolls and hushpuppies, which I wave away) and a cup of fresh cooked pinto beans. I order just the filets with no side dishes and the green stuff is sweet green tomato relish which is a Texas staple to have with catfish.

Elaine,
~~Whatever your reasons, you ought to do it. Meeting the old folks is very rewarding. If you just want to meet your neighbors, you could volunteer to do yard work for your neighbors. Maybe make a little flyer about what free services you might want to provide. I know a lot of old folks have trouble maintaining their yards. Better yet, go around and tell each neighbor that you are considering either yard help or MOW and ask them which they think would best serve their needs.

Jocelyn said...

I'm left feeling that a rage-ridden MOW volunteer would be a grand basis for a really funny sitcom.

Only if you star.

geewits said...

Jocelyn,
~~You always make me laugh!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Ismn't it good you were able to figure out a way to turn it all around--Literally and figurativlly....BRAVO To You, my dear!