What is it with our society that we treat total strangers better than our friends? When I hold a door for a stranger at the gas station or the mall I almost invariably hear those polite words, "Thank you"; even if they're busy talking on the phone or otherwise engaged.
On the other hand, when I hold that same door for a friend, they just walk through as if the courtesy were somehow owed to them.
Now I really couldn't care less about a stupid door - that's just an example. What I care about is when I go out of my way to do a favor for a friend, requested or not, and the effort is simply blown off as if it were really more of an inconvenience.
So some of my friends are officially on notice. I don't care if you're "busy" - so is the lady on her phone at the gas station... and so am I. It takes twenty seconds to type the words "Thank you" into an email, about one second to say them in person.
Make it happen.
12 August 2008
09 May 2008
Coffee, Cars & Curves
Today I learned yet again that coffee, cars and curves don't mix.
My wife and I were passengers today in a friend's car - she was driving us to Seattle for a couple of appointments I had at the V.A. Hospital there. There in the cup-holder sat a Grande Valencia-White Chocolate Latte... as always. The coffee has always sat in the cup-holder as though it were glued there but today it met with forces that a mere cup-holder is not engineered to withstand... namely a 50 MPH spin-out that ended with us backward in a ditch.
Until this sort of thing happens to you, you never truly appreciate exactly how much coffee is in a Grande! You also cannot really appreciate coffee's talent for missing the things you consider unimportant, like the floor mats, while concentrating itself on your eyeglasses, palm-pilot, cellphone, hair and clothing.
Then it turns into super-glue!
Your phone sticks to your cheek when you call 911... the stylus from your Palm-pilot won't let go of your fingers when you finally find where it has launched itself to from your buttoned shirt pocket. The Palm-pilot itself has become epoxied to the driver's side rear seat. For those of you who use hair-gel, might I suggest you try a Valencia-white chocolate latte instead? In my wife's hair it dried almost instantly to the consistency of concrete!
Paramedics are the salt of the earth... I truly believe that and I would have gratefully accepted their offer of an ambulance ride to the hospital except for one thing. I know that they would have clamped that collar around my neck without letting me rinse the coffee off first. That, my fine firefighters, is why I declined your generous offer. I wanted a sink and a washcloth and then a ride to the hospital.and thanks to my sister, that's exactly what I got!
I have a suggestion for Automotive Safety Engineers, though... how about cup-holders that forcefully eject all beverages through the sunroof at the first sign of impending doom!
Or at least make airbags out of a substance that you can wipe your glasses on.
My wife and I were passengers today in a friend's car - she was driving us to Seattle for a couple of appointments I had at the V.A. Hospital there. There in the cup-holder sat a Grande Valencia-White Chocolate Latte... as always. The coffee has always sat in the cup-holder as though it were glued there but today it met with forces that a mere cup-holder is not engineered to withstand... namely a 50 MPH spin-out that ended with us backward in a ditch.
Until this sort of thing happens to you, you never truly appreciate exactly how much coffee is in a Grande! You also cannot really appreciate coffee's talent for missing the things you consider unimportant, like the floor mats, while concentrating itself on your eyeglasses, palm-pilot, cellphone, hair and clothing.
Then it turns into super-glue!
Your phone sticks to your cheek when you call 911... the stylus from your Palm-pilot won't let go of your fingers when you finally find where it has launched itself to from your buttoned shirt pocket. The Palm-pilot itself has become epoxied to the driver's side rear seat. For those of you who use hair-gel, might I suggest you try a Valencia-white chocolate latte instead? In my wife's hair it dried almost instantly to the consistency of concrete!
Paramedics are the salt of the earth... I truly believe that and I would have gratefully accepted their offer of an ambulance ride to the hospital except for one thing. I know that they would have clamped that collar around my neck without letting me rinse the coffee off first. That, my fine firefighters, is why I declined your generous offer. I wanted a sink and a washcloth and then a ride to the hospital.and thanks to my sister, that's exactly what I got!
I have a suggestion for Automotive Safety Engineers, though... how about cup-holders that forcefully eject all beverages through the sunroof at the first sign of impending doom!
Or at least make airbags out of a substance that you can wipe your glasses on.
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