My cousin, Casi, agreed to watch my children for me one day
while I went to a lunch meeting. To
thank her, I went by Starbucks to get her a drink. She doesn't normally like coffee, so I
ordered a caramel, apple cider. I pulled
up to the window, and the cashier informed me that they were out of apple
cider. I said that it was okay, and changed my order to a hot chocolate. As I handed my credit card to the cashier,
she handed me a coupon.
“This is good for a free drink on us, any time you want
it. You would not believe how many
people have yelled at us today.”
“Really?” I asked in complete shock at how rude people can
be.
The manager told me how awful customers had been, and how
much they appreciated my willingness to accept the problem of the lack of apple
cider, as well as what a nice person I was.
I will admit that I left Starbucks with a giant smile on my face. I even puffed my chest out because of my
astounding Christian testimony. What is
that verse? Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes
before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
A few days later, I went to the bank. There was only one other car in the
drive-thru in the farthest lane from the teller. I pulled right up to the spot next to the
window. The teller never even looked
up.
I thought, “Surely she can see me”, but she just continued
to count her money. I watched the other car leave, and another car pull up.
I sighed and thought, “Any minute now.” That car left, and I began to feel inpatient hives starting
to break out on my neck.
Finally, she looked up and said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.”
“Yeah, uh huh, sure,” I thought. She opened the tray, and I placed my deposit in the tray,
and she pulled it back in. My jaw sagged
open as I watched her walk away from the window without my deposit. The third car drove away, replaced by the
fourth car. My inpatient hives had taken
over my entire body. I swear you could
have seen smoke coming out of my ears.
She came back to the window, and still did not take my deposit out of
the tray! She proceeded to count some
more money. By then the other teller,
servicing her FIFTH car, looked at me quizzically. I cannot repeat the thoughts that then filled
my brain. With huge willpower, I clamped
my lips together.
After ten minutes, she finally took my deposit. As she deposited my receipt into the tray, I
had reached my boiling point. I
violently grabbed the receipt out of the tray squishing it into a wad, as if it
was her head, and hit the gas of my minivan as hard as I could. Apparently not just muscle cars can do burn
outs.
A few days later after my minivan burn-out, I had a rough
day with my kids. The perfect cure for a
stressful day: my free well-deserved
drink at Starbucks. I ordered my
favorite: a venti, non-fat, peppermint
mocha, with whip cream. (I know that the
whip cream cancels out the non-fat part, but it makes me feel skinnier.) As I pulled up to the window, I handed the
cashier my little gift card.
She said, “Oh, that’s nice.”
I smiled, and explained how I had earned the gift
certificate by my startling display of politeness.
The manager peeked her head out, and said, “Oh, I remember
this lady. She was so sweet. We had run
out of apple cider, and she said it was not a big deal and changed her
order. We had been yelled at all day.”
I flashed my dazzling white smile, and nodded my head like a
queen. Yes, I was a walking example of
Christianity. As I pulled out from the
drive thru, I proceeded to choke on my venti, non-fat, peppermint mocha with
whip cream when God whispered to me, “Too bad they didn’t see you at the drive
thru at the bank the other day.”
My free mocha didn’t taste as good anymore. I bowed my head and repented. We witness
every day whether we mean to or not.
Some days I am successful, other days, not so much. But I am a work in progress, and am happy to
report no burn-outs in my minivan for the past year.
