“Back Off!” “Mine!” “Keep Away!” Every time I opened the fridge at the Bible bookstore where I worked, Imogene’s lunch bag stickers, complete with ugly faces, accosted me. How rude, I thought, and how unnecessary. After all, our co-workers are Christians. Imogene needn’t worry they’ll steal her lunch.
One day I had lunch with a friend at Kings Hawaiian restaurant, one of my favorite cafés. That scrumptious tuna salad croissant proved too huge for me to finish. I gently tucked it in a Styrofoam to-go box, then wrote my name on the top and put it in the fridge at work. When I went to get it the next day, it was gone.
“Does anyone know what happened to the sandwich I put in here yesterday?” I said. “It was in a King’s Hawaiian box.”
“Was it tuna salad on a croissant?” asked Rob.
“Yes,” I said. “What happened to it?”
“Oh, I saw Sheila eating it last night on her break.”
I tried to hold my voice steady, but I could feel my face grow hotter than a cowpoke's branding iron. I clenched my fists and nearly shouted, “BUT IT HAD MY NAME ON IT!”
Rob chuckled and shrugged. “Sheila’s a teenager. They see food—they eat food. She probably didn’t even notice the name on it.”
I rushed from the kitchen and straight to the customer service counter, where I paged Imogene on the intercom. When she arrived, I put my arm around her shoulder and crooned, “Imogene, dear, where did you find those lovely stickers you put on your lunch bags? I need to buy some.”
Have you ever judged someone as rude or mean, then had to walk in their shoes, and changed your mind about them? Has anyone ever stolen from you? How did you feel?
Oh wow! Not MY teenagers! Holy cow... lol I admit, though, I laughed at someone just this week for putting a "copyright notice" on a piece of fan-art (with no commercial value).
ReplyDeleteBut then, talking to an artist friend, she said, well how would you feel if someone took your fan-fiction? And I understood a little better. Although it has no real value, I'd be disturbed if someone else claimed my work.
Sorry about your sammich! ((hugs)) I'd say Sheila owes you a lunch. (Maybe a chance to show grace?)
Mary
Mary: You're soooooo funny! This incident happened 15 years ago, so I've long fogiven the errant Sheila, but It makes fun writing material!
DeleteI accidentally consumed a Yoplait yogurt that wasn't mine. It happened to belong to the children's librarian at the library I worked at. I was sorry I did it, It never happened again. She was so nice about it; she didn't ask me to replace it,
ReplyDeleteQuiet: Yours was a mistake;
DeleteSheila was being a stinker!
Haha! Oh, yes, I have been in that situation. An last year at school, someone was repeatedly stealing things from the workroom fridge. We knew it wasn't the students because they probably wouldn't be stealing things like Greek yogurt and salads. Guess the thief was on a diet.
ReplyDelete