Thanksgiving

I was a bit irritated. Twas the second time in a row that the pest control guy showed up right as I was ready to leave work. Doesn't take him too long but I have to hang around and sign the paperwork.

And I was ready to call it a day.

I remembered that I have to deal with the person in front of me. Or I should say I get the privilege of dealing with the person in front of me.

Didn't he realize that he was interfering with my plans? Obviously not. So I had that little internal talk with myself that he was just doing his job. And rather than express my displeasure at a few minutes delay I resolved to be pleasant (I know, some of you are thinking that is pretty unusual).

By the way, in case you are wondering, the warehouse has to be sprayed monthly to keep the bugs out. And we do clean it up every once in a while. Lots of nooks and crannys for crawly things to hide.

When he got to my office, before I could even say "Hi", he asked me if I was looking forward to Thanksgiving. I told him that I was and asked him if he was staying around or traveling and if he had family coming in.

And out it came: his wife had passed away in January. And he was having his in-laws over for Thanksgiving dinner because he figured that he could handle that part of the holidays. He was really looking forward to the occasion.

And then he said with enthusiasm and a huge grin: "I just love Thanksgiving!"

And I was ashamed of myself for being irritated just a few minutes before...