Grinchy Christmas

Proverbs 30:33 "For as churning cream produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife."  NIV

As my sweetheart and family will most assuredly attest to, I have been known, on the rare occasion, (ok, more frequently than I would like to admit) to being quite a grinch.  Usually in the morning, always when I am working on taxes or finances, and definitely when I haven't had my coffee.  There is an old Bill Cosby routine where he talks about his lovely wife occasionally throwing a conniption.  Now, for those of you who aren't from the south, a conniption is a moment when, provoked usually by a family member, moms become completely unglued and say ridiculous things like "stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about" or "You want to run away?  Let me help you pack!". One of my best lines was when I yelled at my kids to go to their room and then said "Don't walk away when I'm talking to you!"  Conniptions are slightly behind going off the deep end so if a woman if your life is throwing a conniption, you should probably help her walk away from the edge of the deep end.  Otherwise she is likely to down an entire quart of Hagen Daz and blame it all on you.

Today I went to the local big box store that shall go unnamed but starts with Wal and ends with Mart.  With apologies to those of you who work there who are competent, let me say that I wonder why they put the ones in customer service who are not the shiniest tools in the box, leaving the nice, intelligent people to work in other parts of the store.  I wanted to ask a question about an upcoming event.  Now I realize that not everyone on the planet knows who Glenn Beck is.  And some who do, wish they didn't.  But I happen to like him.  He is coming to our Walmart (heaven knows why when we have a perfectly functional book store down the road) to sign books.  Any event in Texas that involves Glenn Beck is usually mobbed.  So I, in my completely thoughtless manner, went to customer service to ask for information about the event.  First, she had no clue who he was.  Ok.  I gave her that.  Then she had no clue about the event.  Ok.  Maybe she just came on shift and didn't know about it.  But then, in her lovely customer service voice, she told me that she didn't know and I would have to go ask someone else.  As I stared at her in amazement and looked back to make sure I had truly entered the customer service department, even my son with brain damage laughed.  So I politely, (ok, sarcastically....the grinch came out) asked her to call someone.  She said she didn't know who.  She then suggested that I go back to electronics and talk to them.  Say what?????  I am not here to buy a camera!!!  I am here to ask a question.  So again, I politely (ok......even more sarcasm.....more grinch but still smiling) I asked her to call electronics for me and ask them.  She looked at me like I had grown two heads.  I reached up to feel my head but nope.  There was only one head there.  I wondered for a moment if maybe I had turned green like the grinch.

Grudgingly, she called back to electronics where they promptly asked her why she was calling them.  Snicker.  Ultimately, someone had the answer I needed, through several moments of questioning.  I thanked her politely (Yes, I was smiling and I was polite)  and walked away.  She was still looking at me blankly in her early twenty something way, probably wondering why I, the crazy old grinchy woman, was out to ruin her perfectly good day providing excellent customer service.  And people wonder why as we get older, we hate going shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Thank you unknown person on the phone for answering my question.  And please, big box stores, put the ones in customer service who actually want to help someone find out the answer to a question.  How about "I don't know but I can find someone who can help you?"  That's a pretty good start.  

ps....I am sure you are wondering why I chose that verse today.  No reason.  It was just in my scripture study and it made me laugh.  Every once in a while, I think God just throws a funny in to make us realize we are made just like Him.