20 Random facts about me that most people do not know
1. I wasn't a big fan of high school.
2. I worked for Walmart for 11 years. My husband worked for Walmart too. That is how we met.
3. My husband almost didn't ask me out. He was afraid of me. I wasn't as nice as I am now.
4. My husband and I only dated for 6 months before we got engaged.
5. We never took a proper and official honeymoon.
6. Two weeks after the birth of my son, I hemorrhaged and thought I might bleed to death in my bathroom floor.
7. The most content I have ever been was a period of time that we rented a house that is 1/3 the size of the house we currently live in.
8. I am fiercely loyal to people I love.
9. In general I am a patient person but I struggle with road rage.
10. I hate shoes, will wear flip flops until there is ice or snow on the ground, and even the flops come off as soon as I walk in my front door.
11. I do the majority of our clothing shopping at Goodwill and care nothing about name brands. I just refuse to pay more than $5 for a t-shirt.
12. My longest running friendship dates back to early elementary school.
13. I am a homebody...my home is my favorite place to be.
14. I would rather do any other household chore , even cleaning toilets, rather than laundry.
15. God has given me an enormous forgiving heart and spirit.
16. I am shamelessly addicted to Diet Cherry Pepsi
17.I rarely watch any tv show in real time. I DVR it and watch it later so I can skip the commercials.
18. I LOVE to sleep.
19. If you stop by my house unannounced , you will probably find me in my pajamas.
20. I am happier right now with my life than I have ever been.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Choking down some humble pie
I worked in retail for 11 years so I became a very patient customer. I understand that it is not the cashier's fault that an item did not scan correctly. I know that it is not her responsibility to count the customers in her line and open another lane. Her job is to wait on the customer in front of her in an efficient and friendly manner, one after another until it's break time. Cashiers are human. They stand for hours repeating the same motions over and over and over. They don't make near enough money for the job they do and the abuse they take from rude people. No matter how long I have waited in line, I try my best to give a smile and a pleasantry when it's my turn. I am a good customer when it comes to the retail environment.
A friend posted on Facebook last night that she went to the doctor for her annual checkup and the doctor was 20 minutes late in coming in. She apologized for the delay and explained that she had spent the last 20 minutes with another patient delivering bad news. I thought about the times that I have sat in the waiting room by myself or with a sick child and complained about how ridiculous it was to have to wait so long. Truth is, I have never been a doctor so I have never become a patient patient.
We have no idea what goes on behind the privacy of those doors lining the halls of that doctor's office. Doctor's are human too. Maybe he/ she dealt with children who just wouldn't get out of bed that morning and missed breakfast and needed a few minutes to scarf down a snack. Maybe he/she woke up not feeling well themselves and needed a few minutes in the restroom . Maybe he/she just dealt with a difficult child and needed a 5 minute time out before dealing with me. Maybe he/she just delivered bad news to someone and spent some extra time with them or after delivering that bad news , he/she needed some time to pull themselves together after . Maybe, just maybe, it had nothing to do with him/ her at all.
Fact is , doctors do not schedule their own appointments. A receptionist and /or triage nurse does that for them. While it would be easy to blame them for the long wait time, they are doing the best they can do too. I know that there have been times that I have went in for what should have been more of a 10 minute appointment that ended up being more of a 20 to 30 minute one. They aren't psychic and have no control over how long an appointment will last. As soon as the phone starts ringing in the am they have to take a guess at how many patients a doctor can see in a hours time. If they determine 4 and those four only take up 15 minutes each, all is well. If one of those is a child that doesn't want to sit still and is uncooperative and yet another one came in with a sore throat but wants to talk about the blister on her toe , her insomnia, and rash on her butt as well, then at the end of the hour that doctor is 30 minutes behind schedule.
My best friend likes to tell a story that she read one time to illustrate how quick we are to judge . A man lives in a city and boards a train after dark with his three small children. One is crying loudly and the other two are kinda wild and unruly. The man isn't really paying attention to them so they quickly start to get on the other passenger's nerves. At some point an older woman says loudly " Sir , can you please deal with your children." The man looks up and seems to come out of a stupor. He replies " I'm sorry, we just came from the hospital. My wife died a little while ago. I am not sure they understand but they know something bad has happened. They are tired and haven't eaten since lunch." It's so easy to look at a situation and think we know what is going on when truth is, more often than not, we have no idea.
We ( me included ) as a society lead such busy lives that it is easy to become impatient with people and /or situations. We ( me included ) really need to work on just taking a breath and giving others a break. I allow myself to have a bad day every once in a while and should allow others to have one too. God, please create within me a heart that gives others the benefit of the doubt when I am impatient. Help me to be more sympathetic to what may be going on in that person's life. Help me to be kind in all situations. Help me to give a smile and a pleasantry when it is my turn no matter how long I have had to wait. Amen.
A friend posted on Facebook last night that she went to the doctor for her annual checkup and the doctor was 20 minutes late in coming in. She apologized for the delay and explained that she had spent the last 20 minutes with another patient delivering bad news. I thought about the times that I have sat in the waiting room by myself or with a sick child and complained about how ridiculous it was to have to wait so long. Truth is, I have never been a doctor so I have never become a patient patient.
We have no idea what goes on behind the privacy of those doors lining the halls of that doctor's office. Doctor's are human too. Maybe he/ she dealt with children who just wouldn't get out of bed that morning and missed breakfast and needed a few minutes to scarf down a snack. Maybe he/she woke up not feeling well themselves and needed a few minutes in the restroom . Maybe he/she just dealt with a difficult child and needed a 5 minute time out before dealing with me. Maybe he/she just delivered bad news to someone and spent some extra time with them or after delivering that bad news , he/she needed some time to pull themselves together after . Maybe, just maybe, it had nothing to do with him/ her at all.
Fact is , doctors do not schedule their own appointments. A receptionist and /or triage nurse does that for them. While it would be easy to blame them for the long wait time, they are doing the best they can do too. I know that there have been times that I have went in for what should have been more of a 10 minute appointment that ended up being more of a 20 to 30 minute one. They aren't psychic and have no control over how long an appointment will last. As soon as the phone starts ringing in the am they have to take a guess at how many patients a doctor can see in a hours time. If they determine 4 and those four only take up 15 minutes each, all is well. If one of those is a child that doesn't want to sit still and is uncooperative and yet another one came in with a sore throat but wants to talk about the blister on her toe , her insomnia, and rash on her butt as well, then at the end of the hour that doctor is 30 minutes behind schedule.
My best friend likes to tell a story that she read one time to illustrate how quick we are to judge . A man lives in a city and boards a train after dark with his three small children. One is crying loudly and the other two are kinda wild and unruly. The man isn't really paying attention to them so they quickly start to get on the other passenger's nerves. At some point an older woman says loudly " Sir , can you please deal with your children." The man looks up and seems to come out of a stupor. He replies " I'm sorry, we just came from the hospital. My wife died a little while ago. I am not sure they understand but they know something bad has happened. They are tired and haven't eaten since lunch." It's so easy to look at a situation and think we know what is going on when truth is, more often than not, we have no idea.
We ( me included ) as a society lead such busy lives that it is easy to become impatient with people and /or situations. We ( me included ) really need to work on just taking a breath and giving others a break. I allow myself to have a bad day every once in a while and should allow others to have one too. God, please create within me a heart that gives others the benefit of the doubt when I am impatient. Help me to be more sympathetic to what may be going on in that person's life. Help me to be kind in all situations. Help me to give a smile and a pleasantry when it is my turn no matter how long I have had to wait. Amen.
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