Everyone seemed to like the library job posting link. It was pretty cool as a portal to other library websites, but if you scroll to the bottom of the home page, you'll notice that it hasn't been updated since May....
I went to the library blogs. I liked info-fetishist's blog--great name and I can get behind that woman's caliber of nerdy academia. Using sentence diagrams to create level upon level of irony is something I can appreciate. And I hate diagramming sentences.
I don't have a lot else on this one, so I will tell a story:
My "Low Fuel" light turned on today....procrastinator. It was around noon; every pump at the closest gas station was occupied. I assessed the situation and decided to pull in behind a maroon Honda Accord with a crooked yellow bumper sticker that said "Flipped!" There was no one in or around the car--so I assumed that some young man wearing a backwards ball cap and a shirt with shiny writing on it would come strutting out of the gas station soon enough and peel out of the parking lot--leaving me and the pump in his over-confident dust. It seemed like the quickest option.
So, I'm sitting. Sitting. Sittttting. Finally, an elderly gentleman leaning on a cane exited the store, and I knew. He belonged to the Honda, and the Honda belonged to him. He didn't have any coffee or scratch tickets in his hands; he had simply prepaid for the fuel, I realized.
This was the slowest man in the world. But he looked like a very nice, interesting man. So, I watched him hobble to his car, open his car door, press a button to open the door to the gas tank, and very slowly fill his tank.
At this point, I had watched other cars get in line, their owners make gasoline purchase, and move along with their lives. There were empty pumps around me, but I decided that by choosing this pump I had, in fact, made a commitment. Why be so stubborn?
When he finally finished, he waved and smiled at me. I waved and smiled back. BUT WAIT, WAIT...as he's opening his car door, he gets a phone call. And Lord knows you shouldn't drive while talking on a cell phone!
It was worth it.
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You finally met my friend George! He is a wonderful human being. In today's world of microwave dinners and internet shopping he is a bit of a throwback. He works at Wal*Mart. You can usually tell which line he is cashiering because the line will be three times as long as every other line. Why would people get into his line? Simple. Like you, they have learned the pleasure of taking some time to smell the roses. I love to go through his line. Watching the ice cream drip from the cart ahead of me forming a small pool of dessert goodness on the industrial tile is an experience that should have inspired Currier and Ives in their picture print making.
ReplyDeleteGeorge is methodical. He knows that there should be a little more order in the world. It is delightful to watch him select an item to be scanned. It's even better when after selecting an item he inspects it and realizes it really should not be next. He is not afraid to put said item back down and select a more appropriate item to be scanned. Most people would simply scan the item in hand-but not George. He is dedicated to "getting it right".
Sadly, I rarely get to stand in George's line. Andrea has honestly threatened to divorce for purposefully choosing George's line. She just doesn't get it.
Maybe one day, you and I can take a day (yes an entire day) to go shopping at wally world and experience this together. We could take photos and maybe even do a scrapbook album of the event.