Flunky's Last Ride
Flunky is a local guy that always needs money. He will work for a few hours for a little bit of cash but he cannot hold down a job. I've had him come out and do some yard work before. He used to call when he needed money for smokes or rent. I hadn't heard from him for quite some time until Monday afternoon.
He needed a ride the next morning for a job interview, 45 minutes away. He was told they would hire him on the spot. Well I had a bunch of errands planned for Tuesday morning so this was going to have to be an early morning drive. But I was happy to help, especially because the man needs a job.
I was ready to spend 3 hours on the road (2 trips to and from) and the fuel to help the man get the job. I'm the girl that has $20 ready for the panhandlers at the stop light. I am always happy to help someone that genuinely needs it. This was for a good reason; I told myself.
4:15am I get my dragging ass up to do chores and get ready to go. We were supposed to meet at 6am. I'm ready to roll, truck is running and warm. I even had a $10 bill for him so he could grab a snack while he waited for me to get back to pick him up. Of course, 6:10am, no Flunky. I call him, and WAKE HIM UP.
"I'm sick, I forgot to call you." Yeah... sick from that green smoke.....
@#$% @%$# *&%$ @#$%!!!!!! Red steam was rolling from my ears; I'm sure of it. I did not call him back to give him a piece of my mind. I went back home and grabbed a nap. I got up later and went about the day. I was still so pissed!
He doesn't have to worry about calling me for help again.
I've always been a silver-lining, make-the-best-of-things, type person. It's been a hard decades-long lesson for me to make myself stop, take a look at how I feel and change direction for the day instead of powering through. I knew that my bad attitude didn't go away and it would complicate everything else if I tried to can (sometime we will go over superstitions in canning) or work on paperwork. I did chores and went to bed early.
If your day is fouled up; stop and consider how that is going to affect anything else you have planned. It might just be best to call it quits ahead of time and try again the next day. No sense forgetting an important step, putting salt instead of sugar into the cookie dough, or typing 1000 instead of 10 into the expenses column.