So there i was. Its Saturday on Christmas Eve. Im working. Several customers to take care of with a variety of trouble versus installations. Yes, my job has us do this. Most customers are extremely grateful that im even working today. They load me up with cookie and treats and stuff. However, its the other type i want to talk about. I give this customer the opportunity to be the first one of my day. This person responds to me saying they have christmas stuff and family things to do today and can i come by late this afternoon to fix the problem? Really? Are you serious? Am i just a lifeless servant with nothing better to do that wait for YOU to get home on christmas eve as my own family is patiently delaying its own events to accomodate me working? Uh no. So as i take a moment to take all the swear words out of my response, i respond with "well i hope to be attending my own family xmas stuff by then, i can have someone come on tuesday"? Now this person chooses to act like i am causing the biggest inconvienence of his life. OH NO, i cant wait until tuesday, we might die. In the end they choose to be home and wait for me.
Now, what is wrong with this picture? i can think of several things. Has the spoiled brat sense of entitlement gotten that bad? Should i have upheld the "customer first" bullshit to its highest and honored the request? On any other saturday i probably would have. But on this particular day i decided that the employee gets to come first. when was the last time that happened for any of us? if only for a second?
On a side note. I think back to various xmas pasts. some away, some not, some with someone, some alone. But this year I get to add a new experience to the list. I really wanted to spend xmas with my someone special. Circumstances did not allow for that to happen. Its at that moment that I realized there is definately a diffenerence in being alone for a major holiday and being alone because the other simply cant be there. There was this revealed sense of ignorance. alones are not all created equal. Kind of like the difference between simply missing a piece and knowing where the missing piece is.
i was 19 the first time i spent a xmas away from home and family. Overseas in Korea is about as far away as you can get before you start coming back. Alone yes, but so were the rest of us. Differeneces set aside for a day and we were all family...brothers. As far away as it was, for a moment, you felt like you were at home.
Since i can no longer concentrate as my mind is now wandering i will end this here....
...and to the person mentioned earlier...i miss you.
