Being Polite

It has been a busy week at the museum.  The Magazine Editor will show up sometime Monday.  Apparently she is touring the Northwoods in a Recreational Vehicle and it must be returned on Monday ..so our tour will go on sometime before that but no one knows exactly what time..so I am “on call.”  I think it is one of those hurry up and wait things…it really torks me off that I must be at the beck and call on my day off.  Hopefully the publicity will be worth it.

I spent over an hour on the phone getting the wireless service back into the building after hooking up the new computer.  Part of that time was spent spelling words over the phone to some customer service person at D-Link that did not have a good handle on the English language.  I was polite.  I did not scream or demand to speak to his supervisor..I was patient he is most likely supporting at least ten people with one paycheck.

I met some nice people this week..tourists whiling away some time at the museum.  I smiled and welcomed them.

I hate the phone..it rings and I answer politely…I answer all the little old ladies questions about hours and days we are open.  People call and want me to do appraisals over the phone, like I can see their item that they are describing that is one of a kind. I hate the phone.  A salesman the other day wanted to sell me fine china for the Museum Gift Shop and didn’t like my “No” for an answer…I finally told him I would buy every wooden musket he had in stock..sadly he didn’t have any. 

Of course since the week was going so well one idiot had to be a jerk, one of the know it all holier than thou brainiacs and he took TWO of my Tootsie Rolls and never left a donation. A$$ Whole.

I buy my own bag of Tootsie Rolls too..it isn’t like I get reimbursed for them or anything.  I almost told him to put them back if he wasn’t going to be polite.  Yesterday I found where someone stashed two Tootsie Roll wrappers..I bet it was him:(

More Polite

My other baby brother gave me some advice the other day, he said "Sis, you should be more polite."   I have been thinking about that for awhile now.  I have decided he has a point.  I could be more polite.

So from now on, when the phone rings I will not holler. "Who the F is that?"  Especially when we have company.  It is OK when it is just Far Guy and I, but when other people are around they may have just called a short time ago, and Lord knows we don't want anyone feeling bad for a teeny tiny phone call.

When a waitress asks me "How is your food?  I will lie and say I think that their newest chef must be spawn of Bobby Flay.  Apparently when someone in a restaurant asks you "Is everything alright."  You are just supposed to smile sweetly and say "yes."  You are not supposed to say "That roast beef was frozen and then warmed and tasted like crap. " or " The music in this place really sucks." or "Years ago, this place would have been packed to the gills, and now look, hardly anyone is here, you all must have missed the boat." 

If your silverware has a spot of food on it that was missed in the dishwasher and is baked onto the finish and has become one with your utensil just ignore it, after all it is sanitized, and is not going to kill you.  If there is a bug in your salad, you should just quietly pick it out and put it on the floor, it is called catch and release.  If you are in a real fancy restaurant with linen tablecloths, and a huge bug runs across the table just think of it as part of the before dinner show.  If your coffee cup has foreign material in it..just close your eyes while you sip...it will hardly be noticeable.

I think I will ponder this being more polite idea a bit more before I actually put it into use, after all I am getting older, and a big change like this just can't happen overnight:)