In the past, I’ve used it in “why me” situations to calm myself down and reach a level of acceptance but, this morning, I had an epiphany when the mantra popped into my head as a result of not a “why me” situations, but when I was being friendly and helpful.
Though I was up at 4:30 this morning, out a little after 6:00 to beat the sun, there was finally a break in the weather to where a cool 68° enabled me to log in 3.08 walking miles with no sign of the sun in sight. Along about 6:30, I saw a young man standing in front of the doors leading to the complex offices looking befuddled.
Now, office staff doesn’t even appear onsite until sometime between 8:00/8:30, and the doors are not open to us residents or the public until 9:00. Knowing whoever he was and whatever he wanted, he was going to have a long wait, I called out, “Do you need help?”
“Yes. I’m reporting as temporary maintenance.”
“Really? You’re from an agency?”
“Yes.”
I didn’t know there were agencies for maintenance. Interesting. Even more interesting is management is now desperate and having to pull people from said agencies.
"Well, no one is going to be here for a couple of hours, but let’s see if we can’t find the head maintenance man.”
(To recap: Head Maintenance Man is the guy who’s worked here since before new management took over. The guy who was Head Maintenance Man but, because he won’t be intimidated by Nurse Ratched – telling us residents, ‘This ain’t my first rodeo’, got demoted to Little Head when she flexed her muscles and hired someone over him. THAT guy walked off the job after a dispute with Nurse Ratched last month, so Little Head, who lives upstairs across from me in the quad, is now back to Head Maintenance Guy).
Thinking Head Maintenance Man was probably up, I walked the young man over to Head Maintenance Man’s unit, yelled up for him and, when he came to the door, said, “This young man is reporting as temporary maintenance.”
“I told them I didn’t need help for today. They weren’t supposed to call you in.”
The poor guy says, okay and walks away.
That’s when right person, right place, right time came to mind. All ego aside, it appears I was placed in a position to assist that elderly resident when she took a tumble in the heat on the way to the market, I’ve been there a time or two when the Meals on Wheels guy couldn’t get into the building, and I was there for the temp guy this morning. So, though retired, out of the workforce, not in contact with many people, sometimes feeling I no longer serve a purpose, this morning’s epiphany was that in just being friendly and helpful, I actually do serve.
Elsewhere on the complex, I ran into the resident I’d invited to the Appreciation Day 5K Run/Walk on the 12th. She is very interested and trying to get other friends of hers to participate.
Great!
Also, elsewhere on the complex … I don’t mean to judge, but I had a moment of questioning the taste -- in patio furnishings, of whoever resides in this unit when I spotted their balcony.
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| Very Las Vegas Ode on a Grecian Urn Like |
On tap for today is the Labor Day Potluck. I'll be very surprised if more than five residents show up (more on the reason why later)), but I've decided to show up with something from the deli.
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