Sometimes in life we are met with old and cranky people. Have you ever met any? hmmm, I think I've known various ones throughout my life, I can still see them in my head and remember names.
When I was a kid there was an old cranky lady who had a perfectly manicured lawn. We lived in the city so all the houses were really close together. Not like now when we live in a townhouse (LOL).
Anyways, cranky old lady had a sign in her yard that said "Keep off the grass". No please or thank-you. I mean we were kids, and back then you didn't do anything without somebody saying please or thank-you. How else would we learn?
My job (self-appointed) was to poke my foot on her grass like I was doing the hokey-pokey. I would keep one foot on the sidewalk and the other one on the grass. It would hardly take any time at all before her front door would open and she'd yell in a voice loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear, "Keep off the grass" and I'd skip on down the street. Smugly.
Anyways, this week one of our old and cranky clients died. Not one of the oldest but definitely one of the crankiest. She was in a scooter and would run over anything that got in her way...didn't matter if it was straps on the floor connected to someone else's chair or a driver's foot...just back 'em up and hit the power.
One time she said to me, "I can never remember your name" and I told her I'd like to keep it that way. When she asked why I told her that way she didn't know my name when she'd call in and complain. She called and complained about everybody and she had this busted look on her face, like 'you know about that'?
So here's to old and cranky...I never want to go there myself. What's wrong with being nice to people? Is it THAT hard?
Happy Wednesday..........
2 comments:
I used to stay nights with an elderly lady when I was in high school. One could call her cranky and she had no hesitation in telling me that I dressed the wrong way and that kids today were going to hell in a hand basket.
But the funny thing was, she had a hard time seeing at night and once I started reading the Bible to her, my clothes weren't that important. She gave me the best compliment once. She said I wasn't bad for a teenager. Funny thing is, I still miss her when I think about her.
I'm in regular contact with an old cranky. I ask my husband often, "what do you think happened to her to make her this way?" Surely she didn't just grow old and become cranky. She watches the street to make sure no one parks in front of her house (which I've done a few times to have her tell me she was calling the police), surely that must be a horrible prison she lives in guarding the street like that. She is such a crank.
One day I saw her out with her dog. I stopped to pet the dog. It seemed all her crankiness went away for the time being. She proudly declared with a smile, "His name's Charlie." I was so touched that she had a soft spot. His name is Charlie.
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