Smash Mockery

 

Smash Captured a Sunny Side Up Moment at the Office

Sunny Side Up

 

Tomorrow is April Fools Day.  I just left the office, and Dutch was setting up a prank for tomorrow.  It was a great way to end the day because, again, I was laughing really hard.  Dutch and levity go hand in hand. We have many good memories conjuring up our “levity” for Monday morning meetings.

Lately, I’ve had a surge of nostalgia hit me.

Up until now, Funny Bone has received the most attention in  this blog for his self-declared ability to spout witticisms and you shall see him again on here as he earns a spot just about every day. I assure you.

However,  before Funny Bone, there was Smash.  Smash and I go back at least five years. He seems to have matured but I’m sure he is probably just faking me out.

A couple of years ago, I was perusing Smash’s Facebook page and saw a familiar image of  a girl with a sunglasses hair clip. I was stunned that someone else had that hair clip.  You can imagine my giddiness and horror to learn that it was me!

It had been on there for three weeks before I figured it out.  He was surprised that I hadn’t acknowledged the photo before and thought that my delayed response was almost funnier than the photo.

I was horrified at first, but, now as I look back it conjures up a wonderful moment in time.

The fact that Smash was lurking somewhere in my cube, unbeknownst to me, taking a photo of my sunglasses hair clip and took the time to memorialize the moment on his page, is quite a compliment.

The Typing Phantom

Taunted by Typing Fever!

I don’t get it. Whenever I have a creative surge and start typing with intensity, some part of the keyboard pushes my fingers and either deletes a word or changes the tense!  Is it just me?! Perfect example. I KNOW I just typed “it” and when I looked it‘s gone. Where did “it” go?!

Imagine that,you are typing some witty comment on another blog and all of a sudden… just as you hit send…you see the error and you scream, “NO!!!!!!”  But, alas, it is too late.

You can’t delete the comment! You can’t change it! It’s not Facebook! You have no power.  You cringe, you hide under your laptop, you sweep your floor; completely mortified!

You just hope your fellow blogger catches the grammatical gaffe, hits the quick edit button, and you go on with your blogging day!

 

 

Grocery Shopping with Groucho

I’m the Customer, You Give Me What I Want!

Last night, I dashed out to Jewel to pick up a few things. As I waited to check out, my ears perked up because an angry older man was ahead of me reaming out the check out lady because of  a recent story that hit the press regarding the possible elimination of double bags.

She patiently waited for his attack on her company to end so she could politely point out the facts.  He didn’t give her a chance and continued going off on her.  You know he felt good doing this  because he is the customer and the “customer is alway right” but I thought it was incredibly obnoxious.

If you want to make your point, do so with brevity, there is no need to go on for ten minutes and say the same thing ten different ways.  Oh, and Groucho made a great exit.  He couldn’t figure out how to put his credit card in the slot.  So, suddenly he softened and asked for help.

Is it so hard to bring your own bags when you go grocery shopping these days?  That poor check out lady was so flustered that she double charged me for my items and she looked like she was going to cry.  I have been yelled at like that before, by customers, I know it can take a bit to recover. The right thing to do is laugh it off and view the exchange as entertainment but sometimes it is hard to shake it off.

I believe that many customers take advantage of the motto that the “customer is always right.”  You should be respectful with your customers, that is correct.  However, customers have accountability, too, and should behave. If employees are being treated well by the employer, customer service would not be an issue. The secure and happy employees would treat customers well – out of habit.

Empathy would be a good thing from both sides.  Besides, there is so much stress in the world right now. Yelling about a double bag seems like a waste of energy given the bigger issues going on…

Ice Cream Karma

Attack of the Ice Cream Machine

It had been a rough morning so I went to Jason’s Deli for a getaway lunch so I could decompress. A bonus, at a Jason’s Deli is complimentary soft serve ice cream for dessert. I have learned from previous experience to let the machine  run a little and then I restart it with my cone under there. However, today, the ice cream just shot out at me like a snake wrapping around my hand!  An excellent exclamation point to a crappy morning. I took the cone and turned it upside down into a bowl and attempted to eat it.

As I was leaving, my cell phone rang and I saw that it was my friend, Funny Bone.  He was upbeat and jovial imploring me to come see him because there was an emergency at the office, so I thought.  Clearly I  was not hearing what he was saying because there was so much noise in the background from where he was calling me. I let him know that I was off the premises and could not be there immediately.  He started to laugh and said, “Lauren, I am at Jason’s Deli, you just walked past me.”  Oh…

Spring has Sprung

Bring on the Sunshine and Smiles…

I woke up today eagerly anticipating the opportunity to open windows, hear sounds of chirping birds, and welcome the view of a bright sun; painting the canvas for another productive weekend day.  It is the first day of spring, a new beginning, and spring has sprung!

Okay, so the weather has let us down. There is rain and the sun has been taking a nap all day but just hearing the words of spring, can give one the reason to clean, refresh and refuel for warmer weather and new opportunities.  Crummy days outside means more time to rearrange what needs to be done inside.

As I write this post, oddly enough, I see the sun waking up with a vengeance!  Last Monday, as I was driving to work, a day after we had “lost our hour”, I vividly remember seeing the orange orb behind me as I pulled off the expressway.  It was bright and to me, signified the calm, comfort, and hope that warmer weather can bring.

So, as I said before, “bring on the sunshine and smiles“.  Game on!

Blink of An Eye

This week was a rough one but turned on the “refresh” button for not taking life for granted.

A dear family friend was killed in a small plane crash on Wednesday morning. Unexpected deaths like that are just shocking. Literally, he was gone in a “blink of an eye“.  Can’t really say anything more than that but I’m obviously very sad about it and feel for his wife, kids, family and anyone else who was lucky enough to be touched by him. So, the blog debut is dedicated to Jeff Berger, who in a weird way made me push the button and start writing this thing. Sure, in your head, you say you are going to do something but it takes FOREVER to actually do it. I’ve probably known him over 25 years and he certainly had an impact on me. It didn’t matter how infrequent the visits were, he made a difference. He lit up the room with his smile. As a friend of mine summarized, a really nice guy who loved his mother.

The tragedy certainly made me go into my address book to reach out and touch.  That is why I am lucky enough to be leading the charge for finding people for my high school reunion. It makes you reconnect with people and then try to keep the connection going overtime.

It makes you look at people differently for a bit, anyway. You hug them a little longer. You talk to them with a little more depth and just appreciate them more.  That’s not a bad thing.