I seem to experience many of what I call “Loser Moments” (sometimes including “Loser Mom Moments,” but always denoting an embarrassing or humiliating learning experience). So many that I now number them.
This one occurred one evening at a Cold Stone in a neighborhood near you. On a great date with my husband, I ordered my usual Founder’s Favorite Like It size, but in a moment of departing from the norm and branching out as my husband encourages me to do, I changed the creamy vanilla to mint.
Victory for me and new changes!
I continued chatting with my hubby at the cash register, standing next to a lady who was waiting for a refund on a double charge, when my Founder’s Favorite appeared. Because I’m used to being with three teenage boys (I blame this next move completely on them), I picked it up and ate some from the edge, not even using a spoon.
Then my husband looked at me and said, “Isn’t yours mint?”
I about coughed up a lung as I realized I had just eaten some of the Refund Lady’s Founder’s Favorite (no mint, straight creamy vanilla) WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A UTENSIL. (I should mention here I was, as usual, sleep-deprived. Just thought I’d mention.)
Here is the classy part: this good woman looked at me as if to size me up, then said, “Well, if you promise you don’t have any serious germs, it’s all good. I’m a teacher.”
I LOVED THAT WOMAN!
Can I tell you? In this sue-you-for-too-hot-drinks kind of society, here was a woman I could relate to. She was surely the kind that had some children, had stopped sterilizing binkies that fell to the ground, and realized that when her toddler son licked the driveway despite repeated warnings not to, it was giving him some needed minerals anyway.
Trying to think of a way to apologize and show gratitude (as she obviously was trying to leave the store—big surprise with Strangers Who Eat Random Orders about), I scooted out to my car and returned with a book, and my thanks for her patience and classy response.
So next time some weirdo does something truly annoying, I invite you to respond in a classy, I’ve-been-there way. That stranger may just be sleep-deprived and need a break.
Best,
Connie
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Hee hee, Connie! So you! So all of us! Still smiling, laughing about this! Thanks for sharing!
Hey, just to cut the lady with the too-hot-coffee some slack, I just read her story in Reader’s Digest (in the bathroom, naturally…the library of all moms) and I truly did sympathize with her. She is an elderly lady and the coffee was so hot it burned a large part of her lap and lower body and she needed skin grafts and it caused untold misery. All she wanted to do was to get McDonald’s to listen to her for the sake of others. (Since this happened to me….my daughter was injured under the instruction a not-so-great diving teacher and when I called the pool instructor head honcho, instead of saying “thanks for the heads-up” they said, talk to our lawyer, as if I was intent on suing them!)
So many people are burned by McDonald’s scalding coffee each year that it was quite a problem and she wasn’t the first to complain, and they had not responded to their customer’s safety needs. McDonald’s has since lowered the temperature of their scalding hot coffee with not-easy-to-open lids to prevent future mishaps. And her final settlement was not enough to pay her medical bills, apparently.
The point of the article was that we jump onto any media-originated opinion without studying out the facts ourselves, and I had made a crack of two about the too-hot coffee, so I felt that I was part of the group-think, unfortunately.
Anyhoo, thanks for the laugh. I do so many stupid things a week, okay, a day…all right, per hour….that I am glad I do not have to number them!
;0 )
You’re a love, thanks for letting me know! And the scoops on the hot coffee–I seriously have NO problem with legitimate claims. It’s when people get on the bandwagon and break a nail and then claim it was because the nail clippers weren’t properly manufactured…:) Our love to you and your fam–here’s to our future Loser Moments!! Hugs, Connie
I can so relate! I am so happy I’m not the only one doing crazy things!
I’m so grateful for other women saying, Me too! Otherwise it might be Loser Moment #38…:)) Thanks for sharing!
Haven’t been counting mine…….ahem…….
Maybe that’s a wiser thing to do…:) Thanks for the validation, I’m not alone!!
I thought I was the only one to do such a thing. 🙂 teehee