Duck, Duck, Goose

“My prayer this morning was for growth,” I said.

“Some prayers are best prayed ducking,” she said.

And that’s how it was.  I was a small child, a slow grower and was now experiencing growing pains.  First day at work and I was shown a room.  On the way out the door I saw a hand print and another larger smear on the mirror above the hot tub.

“That mirror is a little messy,” I said.

The head housekeeper looked back at it, “There’s an ass print on the mirror! How did an ass print get on the mirror, and it’s all greasy,” she said.

Peaking back, I still only saw a smear and wondered what made her see buttocks.  “Some people use oil,” I said.

Later, I heard the staff whispering and I caught the words “That wasn’t an ass print, that was a clear hand print, tee he.”

Two days later and I had another new job.  “I can’t keep working on the computer taking tests. Could I take a break from it and do something else?” I asked a male supervisor named Judd.

“I guess you could zone, I’ll show you how.”

We went to an aisle and he showed me how to pull the cans and labels forward.  Watching him leave a pile of cans in the back of the shelf I questioned him.

“Do I only put two cans upfront and leave the rest in the back?”

“If you want,” he said.

The next day I happily faced the condiments aisle.  My female supervisor found me as I was walking to another section of the store.

“You can’t even tell you’ve been in the condiments aisle,” she said. “Judd’s in there fixing it now.”

Hmmmm . . . “What did I do wrong?” I asked.

She only shook her head and said she’d show me and we pulled forth all the bottles and packages from the back of each shelf, stacking them as high as the other items on the shelf to make even rows, and stacking the top row to be even with the top edge of the peg board in the back.  She showed me how I had to turn the labels forward in the cases in the back of the shelf even if they weren’t visible.  

For her I was grateful.  For the situation on my second day I was grateful, it showed me I had to watch my back, either that, or challenge the Judd’s in my life.  One other option though, that I have decided to explore . . .

What is it about me that incites this in other people?  I will look up when I pray.