The Rude Clean-Up Guy

I was at a store whose name I won’t mention but it begins with a “T” and it has a big red bull’s eye in its logo.   

(Notice how subtle that was?)

We walked to the women’s restroom and found the door blocked because it was being cleaned.  I could see the man who was cleaning the restroom just inside the door.  So, I said, “Are there other restrooms in the store?”

He said, “I’m cleaning this one.”

I said, “I know.  I can see that.  But I’m wondering if there are other restrooms in the store.”

In a very agitated voice he said, “Use the men’s room.  You’re a guy, right?”

(You might be thinking: “There goes Dan joking around again.”  But I’m not kidding.  He really said that to me.  Are workers at retail stores given special training on methods for insulting their customers?)

I said, “Yes, I know I can use the men’s room.  I’m asking about this women’s restroom for my daughter.”

He said, “Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll be done.”

I said, “Alright.”

Rachel has a habit of waiting until things have reached emergency level status before she tells me that she needs a restroom.  This means that when she notifies me regarding her need and then we actually find a restroom, there is often very little time to spare before unstoppable forces of nature take over.

The rude clean-up guy seemed irritated to even be speaking with me so I didn’t mention this detail to him regarding our situation.   Sometimes the “reap-what-you-sow” factors in life must simply unfold and lessons must be learned.

You say, “Dan, don’t tell me you let an accident happen…”

It would probably not be fair to describe this as a situation in which I “let” an accident happen since I was not given a choice.  But, relax, the truth is that we made it without an incident.  However, the rude clean-up guy seems to be on a crash course with “reap-what-you-sow” destiny.  In other words, he better keep his mop handy.