Friday Funny Words

Finally! I Figured It Out

Before you get too excited, no I have not figured out women. That one is for you Clay.

57 minutes. That is how long I stood in line yesterday at the post office to mail my taxes. 20 minutes in on the wait, I debated leaving then decided to just see how long this process would take. They had two clerks working then one disappeared then three, yes three supervisors came out of the office, looked at the line then walked back in their office. Then the same three supervisors rolled out a cart of boxes and supplies to the front and restocked the area while the line continued to grow. They never spoke to anyone in the line and acted like we did not exist.

In front of me, there was a priest in line with a friend. He was getting more and more vocal about the line. No not the friend but the priest. There was some woman at the counter buying a few thousand dollars worth of money orders, and they have to be done one at a time. He was getting louder and louder and then others in the line started chiming in about how slow the clerk at the counter was moving. As I listened, I decided to jump in to shift the frustration. I said: “Finally! I figured it out.”

Everyone got quiet and looked at me. “We are part of a experiment in patience…there are cameras all over watching and recording what we are doing, our body language and our conversation…some big behavioral science think tank is studying us…that’s why the service is so slow at post offices…” I could see the wheels turning for a second and then the smiles and laughter came. I had done it. I had shifted frustration to funny. Since I was on the comedy stage, I kept it up. I leaned out toward the back of the line and said “I’ll sell my spot in line (I was next) for $25…” That too got a laugh. I continued on with my comedy shtick until it was my turn. As I walked out to the counter, I looked for the clerk’s name tag. “Hi Helen, how are you doing today…” and flashed her a big smile. “I’m doing the best I can with this line…all my help is in the back doing something else I guess…” She was taken aback as I asked about her rather than barking sarcasm about the wait. I concluded my transaction, said thank you and smiled. She said you have a good day sir, and I returned the same.

57 minutes of my life yesterday was spent in a line at the post office. I had a choice. I could either get sucked in to the building frustration frenzy and negative energy of the room, or I could do something to change it. I chose to change it. The quote that I used last week came to mind. I wanted to leave something good behind, and so I did.

“On this day God wants you to know that today is a whole day for you to do good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a whole day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; and in its place will be something that you had left behind... let it be something good…”

So what will you figure out today? Look for a chance to change the mood and energy in the room. Make a difference today.

Rodeo Rod - Laughing My Way Across the Pasture!