Do you ever experience a circumstance that sometimes causes you to scratch your head?
Situations like those seem to happen to me a lot. In fact, I had one last week when I pulled into a service station for gas.
As usual, the big box store nearby was fairly busy. Thankfully, I’d managed to time my gas fill-up before the crowd migrated over.
Great. I can get this done in a hurry, I thought.
But, alas, it was not to be because you know when we think that, what always happens? Yep. Just the opposite.
I ran my gas card through the scanner, selected the fuel grade, and grabbed the pump handle to begin fueling. Just like the little computer told me to do. Except nothing happened.
I tried again. Still no dice. The pump handle wouldn’t work.
Determined not to be annoyed, I removed the pump from my gas tank and walked around to the attendant’s teeny tiny, tsunami-proof hidey hole. I had to wait my turn behind the guy who was bound to be our state’s next millionaire.
With lottery tickets finally in hand, the fellow brushed past me and went on his merry way.
“Can I help you, ma’am?” the smiling attendant then asked.
“Yes,” I replied, relieved to finally be telling someone. “Could you please reset me on number two? The gas pump handle doesn’t seem to be working.”
“Yeah. I know.”
Hmmm. She knew? Oh. Okay. Well, it was good, I guess, that she knew.
I waited.
Giant pause.
When she made no further comment, I repeated myself. “Could you please reset me on two? The gas pump handle doesn’t work.”
“Yeah. I know. We have to get the DM’s approval before we can put an ‘out-of-order’ sign on it.”
I think I laughed. In fact, I’m sure I must have.
“Well, how long has it not been working?”
“All day.”
“I see.”
But I didn’t.
In fact, I didn’t see at all.
Maybe it was because I didn’t want to believe the irony.
A teachable moment, for sure.
******
Please share. What head-scratcher have you experienced lately?
Photo Credit: nuchylee/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Blessings Always,
Comments 8
That’s rich! The DM’s approval? Really? You know if you think about it, I’m glad when our spiritual gas pumps seem to be malfunctioning and everyone wants to slap an out-of-order sign on us, God says, “Wait a minute. Let me be the judge of that. She might need a little tweak. She’s not down for the count.”
Ok, there’s my 2cents. But seriously, couldn’t she have put a sign that says, “Might be out of order.” or just put a trashbag over it? That’s what they do here. Ha!
Author
Jess, honestly, I think I laughed the whole way home. Is it any wonder why this old world is the way it is today? Micro-managing and then lack of accountability when the hard (and, sometimes, the simplest) decisions come is a painful symptom of the overall problem.
Amazing story!
I just think that some people just don’t think…lol!
Author
Loree, I absolutely would agree with that! You made me smile.
Haha! My theory is that she was the DM and was too tired to get out of her little cube. 🙂
Author
Sarah, you know, I wondered about that. Makes sense, huh?
Really?
That’s all you got? A “Yeah, I know?”
That goodness you had the grace to laugh … given the day, or the deadline, I might not have laughed.
Then again, I might have made up the sign myself.
Author
Beth, call me silly, but I’ve been laughing over that one ever since it happened. I think I was probably the the 100th person that brought it to the attendant’s attention, and I think her response spoke volumes about where we’re at in society. Then again, I’m a writer. Maybe, I’m over-analyzing.