Work Stories: Episode 68: Kids Do the Darndest Things

Previously on Work Stories, I wrote about the time that I got yelled at because a woman didn’t agree with my definition of all day parking.  It was a moment that broke the omphaloskepsis that every day of working in the parking lot brought along.  It was also one of the worst times that I had ever been yelled at by a customer.  If I could relive that day, I wouldn’t.  Why would I?  I don’t want to relive that time I got yelled at about parking.  What would be the point?  Anyway…

This week I’ll bring you a Work Story from this past week because it happened this past week and I want to write about it.  That seems like a good enough idea to me.  It’s not too much of a story but I’ll try to make it entertaining enough to read.  If I didn’t do that, it would be a failure to all of the people who are actually reading this.  These posts are supposed to be about me, for me, and for you.  I shouldn’t be writing them for the sole purpose of writing them (though, to be honest, I am).  I should be writing them so that people can read them and learn a little bit about me and what makes me into me.  Without further ado, the Work Story.

The past week was a fairly nice week around here, weather wise.  The temperature went up, the snow melted away, and we got some sun.  It was a nice break from the monotony of winter.  It also meant that when I went to work, there would be more people than I have become accustomed to over the winter months.  There wasn’t a moment without being able to see somebody walking the streets.  They didn’t necessarily come inside our museum, but they were out there having a good time on some nice days.

What is even more notable about the people walking about, other than the abundance of them is that the warm weather also meant that they let their kids walk around without strollers.  I guess the lack of snow makes it easier for the kids to maneuver and less likely for them to slip and fall and injure themselves.  There were more people out, and more kids out of strollers.

Like usual, I was sitting in our cash booth charging people to go inside.  They didn’t always walk up to me, though.   Most of the time they came into the lobby, looked at the stuff in there, and then left the museum.  They’d rather look at a few things for free than pay money and see everything.  So I’m sitting there minding my own business when I hear a noise coming from the other side of the counter.  I look over and see a little girl looking at me from below the edge.  She said something that I couldn’t understand and I looked at her and smiled.  She said another thing I couldn’t understand.  If you think I have trouble understanding people on the internet, you’ve never seen me around children.  I don’t understand a single thing they say.  The second time she said something, I smiled again.  She looked at me.

Now, this is the part of the story where I would normally go off on a tangent to tell you a little something more that seems relevant.  In this case it would seem way out of left field and give away what was about to happen.  That’s why I’m going to just tell you what happened and fill you in after that.  Oh, I guess I should say the little girl was about two years old.  That is actually important at this point because you’re probably sitting there thinking “You don’t understand children?  They talk fairly normally, you know.”  Two year olds don’t usually talk fluently.

The third time she said something that I didn’t understand, she lifted her hand.  In the hand was a wad of Canadian Tire money.  Where did she get all of that Canadian Tire money?  I don’t know.  Maybe she found it.  Maybe her parents gave it to her.  Maybe she liked the colour, so her parents let her hold onto it for her.  I have no idea.  All I know is that she had a giant wad of the money and she was showing it off to me.  Then she lowered her hand and ran away.  I was left in a stunned state for a few moments trying to figure out what had just happened and why it had happened.

Now to explain the Canadian Tire money thing before I close out this Work Story.  Canadian Tire is a Canadian hardware store chain.  It sells tools, sporting goods, garden stuff, and gasoline but it’s mostly the hardware store things you would go there for.  Sometimes they’ll give you some bills for Canadian Tire when you purchase stuff there.  The bills are five cents, ten cents, twenty five cents, whatever.  If you get enough of it, you can get discounts on the things you buy.  That can be a really good thing if you’re spending a lot of money.  Oh, and like Canadian money, each denomination is a different colour.  I thought I’d let you know about this Canadian Tire money so you’d understand what I’m writing about a little bit more.

And that brings this week’s Work Story to a close.  It was a little choppy because of the jump I had to do.  I’m sorry about that.  I felt it needed to be that way to get the full effect of the reveal.  I’m sorry if that didn’t work out.  Next week, I’ll have another Work Story for you.  Come back and check it out when it happens.

Until then, with the things I've done in my life, oh I know I'm going to burn in hell. So I sure as shit ain't afraid to burn here on earth.