I have recently discovered that it really does pay to be nice to people... even people you do not even know. I figure when you meet a new person, even a stranger, you are faced with a choice. As you walk down the hall way to the break room in the large building where I work ( a big room my friend Lyssa and I call "Hot Pockets" - as in "OMG I was in Hot Pockets... and I saw the guy who dresses like Harry Potter again..." - We started calling it this because they have machines that sell Hot Pockets and it always smells like Hot Pockets and people are always in there eating Hot Pockets....)
Anyway I will walk down the hall way to Hot Pockets to get more ice ( or if I am being bad, an overprivced bag of Chili Fritos from the machine - no worries... half the time you don't even get your snack.. it gets stuck... so... that saves on calories) and I will see the random Apple Tech Support employee from the first floor, with like Blue or Orange or Green hair. At that point I am given a choice... I could frown and look away... or I could simply smile and say "Hey.... did anyone ever tell you you look like Harry Potter?" The point is WHAT DOES IT COST YOU TO BE NICE INSTEAD OF FROWN????
I see people there all of the time and everyone is on a different journey. In the elevator someone is clearly having a crappy day.... it is 5:30 AM, it's raining, AGAIN, and here we are at work..... When I see someone that looks relatively friendly I will say something like "LIVING THE DREAM!!!!" hahahahahah I know everyone in my division, - its very small and in a private walled off section. You have to like pass a couple of tests and stuff proving that you can really sell to be able to work in my division. So I know they do not work with me... Mostly likely they make less money in the other two divisions. They are strangers.. but whatever.... we are all in this together. There are people who work for the 7 radio stations on the 4th floor that also use the elevator, and you can always tell them because they park close, get out of expensive cars and are kind of aloof. I hardly ever joke with them. The few times I have they were kind of snot heads about it... so WHAT EVERRRRRRR.
Speaking of getting up at 4 AM.... I do get up at 4 AM most weekday mornings. I have to be at work by 6 AM. I used to hate this but now I love it. There are morning creatures out and about that I never realized existed before I had this schedule. The world is quiet and most people are asleep.
I see all kinds of people at 4 AM... even in my own neighborhood. There are the two TURBO KICK ladies... they live down the street from me and get up at some ungodly hour to go to a studio and teach a class where they, from what I can tell, scream and pound the floor and punch the air. They are in fantastic physical shape and I admire them and I might join them one day in a hundred years but that day is not this month or next... There is the kid across the street Chad who leaves at 5:30 to go work for his Dad I think and some days, his Step Dad, Police Man Steve, is also warming up his truck in the driveway getting ready for his 6 AM shift. Sometimes I will have to make a stop at Francisco's house to drop something off for him. One day I just threw a shirt I won on his lawn. I win a LOT of shirts...none of them are very flattering on me... so... I give them away. Oddly he is usually also up at 5 AM. On the way out of the Hood I pass Chris's parent's house and shortly after that I pass Three Dog Lady. OMG this lady walks three of the cutest little dogs.. at least I think they are cute... its DARK. But after Christmas? OMG Three Dog lady must have hit the jackpot from Santa because SHE and ALL THREE of her DOGS ALLLLL had MATCHING COATS.
Sometimes I will stop at the 7-11 at the corner of 99 and
Ivy because I will need to pick up an
energy drink (those nutty GEN-Y kids got me hooked on 'em) or something for my
lunch. That is one of the few places open at this hour. They are all nice in there. One time I had just gotten paid again and my
card did not work in the swipey machine and I just about had a stroke. They were so nice about it and said "NO, it is our machine.. it does that
all the time... its NOT your card." It finally worked, they were right... but...
that was a fun little exercise. Another
place open is the Human Bean Drive Thru coffee place but Bill makes the strongest coffee on earth
and so theirs is weak by comparison.
Plus I am cheap. and frankly I do
not give a crap about coffee. I do not need to know that my beans were FAIR
TRADE purchased or whatever... McDonald's
another place open at 5 AM has a
large coffee with 5 creams and 5 sugars for a buck. The same people are always there at McDonalds
every AM. There is that Really Tall Girl...
then Usually Smiling Spanish Girl who was crying that day that singer that SPANISH POLKA QUEEN singer was killed
in a plane crash... She was crying that
morning I remember, and I was not critical of her when I thought back to how
much I cried the day Princess Diana died. Sometimes there is this other girl - MATTER OF FACT girl... she is verrrry
precise. Yes I have names for all of the McDonald's people
too.
The one lady I see
most often is.... Gas Station Lady. There is ONE gas station open at 5 AM in
Canby. The next closest one is in Poop Smelling
Wilsonville. Wilsonville is a nice enough place but at 5 AM I guess they run
the sewage plant or something because there is a stretch of I-5 there where you
practically have to hold your breath. I never stop for gas there and I
certainly never will at 5 AM. The gas
station in Canby that is open.. I have
no idea what company it even is.. Chevron? 76?
no idea I cannot remember It is
next to the Human Bean though, and it is the only one open at 5 AM. Every morning there is ONE LADY running
it by herself. She has a long blonde
braid and she has to be at least 55 years old
She is Sooooo sweet. No matter
how cold it is or how hard it is
raining or how many cars are
waiting she is always sweet, nice
polite. I love her. I stopped for gas the other morning and since I was done
with "Joy for beginners" our book club book, I just gave it to her. I
said "Here you can keep this book... my book club is
done with it and i never read books twice. It's a pretty good story!" not that I have a motive... I really was not
going to read that book again... but maybe she will not mind one cold morning
when it is super cold and there are 14 other cars yet I am really poor that day and I hand
her a ziploc bag full of
quarters..."Its $4.00. Really. I
counted it twice..." hahahah
I think the point is
that that I do not HAVE TO talk to any of these people. I could frown allll the
way from Canby to Work. I have every
right to - Its WAAAY early. The train is
pissing me off again. The fog is so thick I am waiting for a freakazoid from TWIN
PEAKS to jump out at my car. I am LATE. I am TIRED. I don't FEEL LIKE going to
work today. I did not get enough sleep. I am back on that thing of "What
the hell am I doing with my life??" again... I could be a crab. I COULD
BE. Most days I CHOOOSE NOT TO. I think it is a choice. I think Chris knew
that. Most of the time he did.
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