Yesterday, I stepped into my local Kinko's/FedEx store. The blue skies and warm sunshine had me on the bright side where time was my friend and people were smiling. I was still mentally humming Black-Eyed Peas' Missing You while thinking about Sanders, the next stop on my errand list.
My stay was intended to be brief: a run-in, run-out kind of deal. I was blind to the invisible, dark, Grinch-like forces amassing to the right of my self-serve copy machine.
As my copies ejected, I glanced around. The impatient lady waiting in line hovered. She was ready to pounce as I prepared to leave. Unfortunately, my credit card became stuck in the card reader.
Signaling a Kinko's employee for help, I held my breath. Despite the reality of my card being inside the card reader, I searched through my purse. After all, it is the holiday season. Perhaps Neptune, the elf, my family recently adopted, would put a thumb up his nose to make my card magically reappear.
Neptune's magic didn't work. So, I succumbed to reality and sat my purse on the work counter to my right. My credit card was stuck in that reader. Time was no longer my friend. Minutes clinked off the clock.
Then, as if my situation wasn't dire enough, the impatient line-waiter transformed herself. Venom shot from her eyes.
She shouted, "Will you please get your stuff off of my counter?"
Get a grip my inner voice said. Then, as an added buffer to the Grinch-like darkness swirling to my right, there was a happy, smiling woman to my left.
She said, "Look at the beautiful, bright sunshine. Isn't it a perfect day. I'm taking an extra long lunch."
I sucked in all the snarky, anti-holiday comments I was about to hurl at the Grinch lady and said, "You're right. It is a beautiful day. Enjoy the extra long lunch."
