Words to Live By:
A meal of bread and water in contented peace is better than a banquet spiced with quarrels.
Overlook an offense and bond a friendship; fasten on to a slight and—good-bye, friend!
Whitewashing bad people and throwing mud on good people are equally abhorrent to GOD.
A bad motive can’t achieve a good end; double-talk brings you double trouble
A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.
The one who knows much says little; an understanding person remains calm.
Even dunces who keep quiet are thought to be wise; as long as they keep their mouths shut, they’re smart.
Proverbs 17: 1, 9, 15, 20, 22, 27, 28 (The Message)
I am not supposed to write about work due to our social networking policy, but how can you not write about a place where you spend at least one third of your time? Especially this time of year which is our busiest season? The past few days have been NUTS! Not only do we have Heritage Days coming up, but we moved History Fair to February instead of November. Originally, we held History Fair in the fall to get a jump on Science Fair. Teachers and students don’t seem to be able to do both at the same time; at least do both well, so we hoped that if ours was first, we might get the cream of the crop. But, Science Fair kept moving closer and closer to our dates and this year, was at the same time. So, we moved to February, but it is hard to do something that big in the middle of tourist season. To top it all off, one of the nonprofits I work with is having their biannual election of officers. This is a group passionate about their community and their work. The campaigning and vote grabbing is enough to rival a nationwide Presidential election. I rewrote their By-laws and standing rules last year, so have been getting several calls a day regarding election procedures. They call one staff person and ask a question, then, call another and ask the same question and end up asking me. Hoping, I guess to get the answer that they want. It has been a lot like refereeing kindergartners running for class treasurer. I keep sending them excerpts from their governing documents to settle the issues, but I am really tired of being dragged into the middle of it. On Friday, I was trying to award History Fair prizes and fielding silly phone calls when I finally had had it. I went storming into my office ready to kill someone and two of my employees looked up and said simultaneously, “We didn’t think you would be back today and told callers that.” I started ranting about them while one of my staff frantically signaled that there was a customer in the building. I turned around and he smiled at me, said my name and “I was waiting for you to come back so I could ask you a question, but they said you weren’t going to be in.” I was puzzled. He acted like he knew me, yet I couldn’t figure out who he was. Then, he broke out laughing because he was a stranger, but managed to pull my leg having overheard all that was going on. I had to laugh too. Later on, someone from the problem child organization called to apologize for the behavior of her fellow board members. And I calmed right down. It just proved to me that laughter and apologies can really change your attitude. I may need to use those techniques the next time I make someone mad!
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