Stupidity

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced.

You shouldn't have a driver's licence if you don't know how to put an automatic vehicle into gear.

It's that simple.

Gethsemane

Have a heart. Comment.

Wisdom Via Italian Imports

Just had an interesting conversation with Luigi. He's this older Italian who drops by once a night, usually to talk to Charlie, but who talks to me as well.

"How's your girlfriend?"

"I actually don't have one."

Probably my least favorite question in the world. People always assume things that I'd rather not have them assume. Luigi thought that I was wise, however, so the issue was avoided.

He nodded sagely.

"They always asking for money, buy me this buy me that. Christmas. And I say don't give me that (unprintable.) Get a job and buy your own stuff. And then groceries!!"

He shook his head in exasperation.

"Or when they get bossy. I hate it when they're bossy. I say, don't boss me around baby, or I'll slap you."

This seemed a little harsh in my mind, but I could understand where he was coming from.

"But a girl with a good heart? I would do anything for her."

Again, I agreed with the little round Italian.

He left then, leaving me with a little pearl of wisdom that had been carefully packaged with light profanities.

Friendship

Aussie Stories : Sally Ann

One of my co-workers is an eighty year old Aussie, who I've come to respect greatly for his thoughts and experiences. There was one in particular that I wanted to share. This is my effort to recreate it.

---

Charles was looking out the window in a contemplative mood. There wasn't much for me to do at that point. Nobody was paying for fuel, the phone wasn't ringing at all, and I could use a drink. So I got up, grabbed a water from the fridge, and went to stand by the little bald man's chair.

“What are you thinking Charlie?”

He looked up at me through his glasses, his eyes glittering with the sadness of nearly a century of life, and a small smile caught at the corner of his mouth beneath his grey little moustache.

“Let me tell you a story, son.”

I nodded in acquiescence and tried to make myself as comfortable as I could against the counter.

“When I was a young man, just married, I was poor. Real poor. We lived in Sydney at the time. (I believe it was around 1940.) It was a tough life, with not much work to go round.”
“One night, it was particularly cold. In those days, about the only place you could go to stay warm was to the train station, for the station was a simply huge building, with lots of room for whoever wanted to be there. However, I had no way to get my family there. So I flagged down a cab, and begged him to take us to the station. He was a kind hearted fellow, his name was Avery, and I've never forgotten his name in all my years. He kindly agreed to take me and my family to the station.”
“After a few minutes, he looked at me and asked me why I'd want to go to the station in this weather. I explained that it was for the warmth. He was silent for a moment. Then he turned to me, and said he had a quick errand to run before he would be able to drop us off.”
“I was fine with that, after all, he was being kind enough to take us to the station for free. So the cab pulled up in front of one of the most beautiful hotels in Sydney. The driver got out of the cab, explained that he would be back in a minute, and left.”
“It was a few minutes more before he returned with a middle aged lady. He opened the door of the cab, and pulled me out of the car, then got out my family, and directed us all inside.”

At this point the old man got slightly teary.

“He had gone and talked to the Salvation Army people, and together they had gone and rented a room at the hotel. So it ended up that me and my family slept in a bed that night.”

Charlie looked up at me.

“And ever since then, son, whenever I see a Sally Ann collecting donations, I always give whatever I've got. Cause they did for me what no one else ever did, they showed us kindness.”

And he turned to look back out the window.

Cards and quotes

"You gotta play with the cards Life deals you. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But at least you're in the game."

-Vic Fontaine

"Welcome to the human race. Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to be controlled by good people, by people who love you."

-Valentine

"Only one rabbi dared to expect of us such a perfect balance that we could preserve the law and still forgive the deviation. So, of course, we killed him."

-Andrew Wiggin

"The wise are not wise because they make no mistakes. They are wise because they correct their mistakes as soon as they recognize them"

-Andrew Wiggin

"Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence."

-Some random guy

"Jesus is the CSS of the soul."

-Another random guy

Week of . . .

If you've ever watched Star Trek Voyager, you may recall a particularly gripping two episode story called "Year of Hell" where everything that could, (and couldn't) go wrong, did. It was depressing.

Therefore you could understand how I might make the connection between that pair of episodes and how my work week is starting to shape up. My manager is away, along with all the other uhaul people, which leaves me in the Captain's chair. A seat whose comfort fades quickly before a onslought of a mixture of angry, non-thinking, swearing people that happen to be the majority of my customers. Probably half of the contracts I've run through have run into problems. . .

Trailers which end up being broken, wasting precious time. Too many trucks and not enough places to put them. People who forget their driver's licenses at home, have to disconnect their trailers and reconnect again later. People who have reserved a truck with a credit card, but then don't bother to bring it for the contract. People who don't realize we'll need the signiture of the card owner. (I don't get that one. Like seriously, duh.) They then discover that that person went away to Hawaii, and won't be available for a week of Sunday. But they still want their truck.

And in addition, I'm working alone now. My co-worker had to go home with heart palpatations. And since he's an older man, there is no way I'm going to make him work.

*sigh*

And the rosy prospect of a whole week of this rises before my imagination.

And yet, it's really quite amazing to know that I've got something deeper to hold on to. It's fascinating how much peace prayer can give you. And I know that either way this week goes, that He's got a plan, and that I needn't worry. I still somewhat do, of course, but I'm getting better at it all the time.