Good Deed of the Day

You can't really tell, but the guy on the right has jeans that are wet up to the knees.

He was sitting with his family in their car, watching the surfers. The surf was really rough and surfers kept falling. This one surfer got separated from his board, which washed up toward shore while the surfer was still pretty far out in the waves.

The beach is all rocky right there. The man ran from his car, out into the water with his shoes and jeans on, and saved the surfboard from smashing on the rocks.

He stood there on the shore, holding the board, until the surfer could get out of the water to get it.

Back in the car, his wife beamed with lovely, wifely pride. That's right, ma'am. You got a GOOD husband.

Not to pimp Fresh & Easy, but...

I stopped at Fresh & Easy to get some $2 wine and to spend my $25 gift certificate they gave me for showing up to their headquarters for BloggerFest '10.

I was standing in the refrigerated aisle, peering at the hummus selection.

A lady next to me said sadly "I was looking for one specific thing that they don't have."

I said "The lemon-cilantro hummus, right? Me, too!"

We commiserated at the absence of the lemon-cilantro hummus. It really is the kind of good that makes you commiserate with strangers.

"I had a day off tomorrow and was just imagining myself having a little snack of some crackers and that hummus," she said.

I could see she had A Plan. And now that plan was ruined by this blank spot on the shelf where Lemon-Cilantro hummus should be.

I headed off to the wine aisle and wandered on through the store.

The lady came up to me.

"Um, not to be a stalker, but I found an employee and they found some of that hummus and there are only a few out there, so if you want some, you might want to go get it before they run out."

See, my people? See how that works?

The lady knew I wanted hummus and she was kind enough to track me down 3 aisles later so I would not miss out. A little kindness, to be sure, but a kindness that made my life a smidge happier. It just put a smile on my face.

THAT is how we do it. Each one of us taking care, thinking of others, going just a little out of our way. That's what makes the world a better place, drop by drop, bit by bit, seed by tiny seed. That's the ONLY thing that is going to make this world a better place.

Every time I open that carton of hummus I think of that lady and send a happy thought her way. She deserves it.

My trip to Fresh & Easy Headquarters

No, it isn't a comment on my flirting style.

It's a post on my food blog about a trip to a grocery store HQ for food & fun.

The Layoff Chronicles Part 74: Job Search

I applied for a job doing what I used to do, but in a different industry.

My old job was basically technical writing - a lot of time spent translating complex weirdness into English, making sure the writing conformed to company style, tracking the progress of massive amounts of information through the pipeline, making sure all the tasks got completed on time, and producing large, heavy documents which no one would ever read.

Company X called me and said they wanted to do an assessment over the phone and we set up a time. I figured an "assessment" was some kind of pre-interview thing.

The woman called and the "assessment" was that she wanted to test my Microsoft Word 2007 skills on the phone. To be precise, on speakerphone with other people in the background.

What the everloving hell?

I was stunned. First of all, how exactly does one assess computer skills on the phone? And second, I dunno about you, but I don't THINK about the software I use - I just use it. That is part of being good at using it. You don't think "Step 1: Open a new document by pulling down the 'file' menu." It is just automatic, and I can't tell you how I do most of what I do.

Third, but probably most important: if you think that MS Word skills are the most salient thing about a technical writing job, you are so far off base that I don't want to talk to you because you are an idiot.

I did not tell her this. I escaped the horror by asking her if the job could be done from home, because I live 2 hours from their HQ (their ad didn't specify). She said no and I said goodbye.

It is a weird, weird world out there.

Life Lesson Day

After aqua aerobics this morning (going to the gym in the morning is yet another perk of funemployment), I drove over to a nearby shopping center. I was looking for a parking place.

This woman driving a white car zoomed down a side aisle, flew past me AND a huge SUV and into a parking place, narrowly missing hitting the SUV.

The SUV driver and I threw up our hands and then I saw that the SUV driver was my aqua aerobics teacher, Delia. Delia pulled up behind the crazy driver, so I stopped, too, waiting to see what was going to happen.

The white car driver did not get out of the car. In fact, after a couple minutes, she put her car in reverse. Delia gave up and moved on. The crazy lady pulled back in her spot and exited her car.

"Nice driving," I yelled.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry," the woman stammered. She ran up to my car.

"I never do things like that. It's just that I'm so upset. My...my husband just called me at home and he forgot to file some paperwork and he said we owe the IRS $6000 and we don't have the money and I didn't know what to do but I just had to get out of the house and I was so upset that I wasn't thinking and I saw what I did and I thought 'Oh my dear Lord I could have killed someone' and I just want you to know I'm not that kind of person."

Then she burst into tears.

Which is how I ended up holding hands with a complete stranger in the middle of a parking lot out the window of my car at 11 a.m. on a Wednesday morning.

Lesson Learned: Don't judge, because you never know.