The Little Fairy Syndrome

 Click here for the Wikipedia entry for Tinkerbell

So here's the scenario:

As anyone who has ever bought lettuce and tried to keep it in the fridge for a week knows, fresh produce slowly goes bad over time. Now multiply that situation by a factor of about 496.28 and you see what we who work in fresh produce face everyday. Product that looks fine in the morning may degenerate enough by night time that it is no longer suitable to be merchandised and sold. So it has to be removed from the sales floor and disposed of as a "damage". Damages are a fact of life. Everybody faces it every shift. It is unavoidable.

As a child, most of us have heard of and believed in fairies. There are tons of stories about Fairy Princes and Sugar-plum Fairies and Fairy Tales (or is it Tails?). As we get older, we begin to lose faith in fairies (not to be construed as a confession that there ARE no fairies). I say "we", I should say "most". There are apparently many people who still believe in fairies. I bet you work with some of them too. How can you identify them? Easy. Especially at Sam's Club:

THEY LEAVE STUFF UNDONE AS IF SOME LITTLE FAIRY WILL DROP DOWN FROM THE SKY AND DO IT FOR THEM.

In produce, it's leaving damages piled up all over the place instead of putting them in the barrel that's back there for them (or in the case of the worst offender, ON TOP OF THE BARREL), so that, before a person can pull their own damages, they have to dump those. It's filling up the cardboard compactor and not pushing the button to start the machine, causing someone (ok, me) to have to wait for the compactor to run before putting their own in there. In all the restaurants I ran over the years, there also were numerous ways to identify these people. I, being a grown-up and all, would tell my employees that "There's not some little fairy that drops down and does this. If you don't do it, someone else will have to. " I crushed many dreams back then.

As you can tell, this has LONG been a pet peeve of mine.

How do you identify the Fairy-lovers in your work-place?

The New Scoutmaster

The troop poses at Pegram Cemetary after placing flags for Memorial Day 2011
See more at Troop 275's webpage

You may recall the last post where the discussion was how busy I had allowed myself to get, and how tired I was. The Scoutmaster of my boy's Boy Scout Troop, of which I am the Advancement Chair, had decided to retire after several years as Scoutmaster. I was considering taking the position, and struggling with additional responsibilities when I already frequently felt stretched and stressed enough.

The following Sunday was Scout Sunday, and the pastor gave (as usual) a very fine sermon, telling stories about his brother the Eagle Scout, and keeping the young scouts entertained with campfire stories. He then went on to the meat of the sermon, which, in a nutshell, made the point that using your talents in something you're passionate about is a form of praising God and giving service to others.

It seemed he was speaking directly to me. So I decided to give it a go. I notified the troop that I would be their new Scoutmaster.

I'm eager to get going. I don't want to rush the current guy out; he's done a remarkable job for many years (15, I think). But that being said, I of course have my own ideas how I want things to go, and I find myself chomping at the bit. I have to remind myself that this is going to be a process. 

Scouting offers an opportunity for true service to others. What a chance to help shape and develop future leaders of our community. This gives them the chance to see and experience new things, new people, and new ideas, while reinforcing the constant virtues of responsibility and values, without them even knowing it. My job is to keep them interested and excited. I think I can do that. So keep me in your thoughts and prayers while I take this big step.

Whew!

I've posted along these lines before (see Staying Busy ) so it's a recurring theme, and I don't want to bore anyone but here we go (no, no, not the Bud Light commercial)

This has been one of those weeks. By Sunday night's bedtime, I will have been out of the house 7 nights out of the last 8. Now that may not seem so bad to you young whippersnappers, but remember, I get up at 4AM everyday but Friday, and 6:30 on Sunday, so 8PM to me is late. I manage to stay up most nights until about 9:30, but sometimes even that is a struggle. Admittedly, a lot of that is my fault. Three of these nights are Scout-related. I worry about getting burned-out. I sure don't want scouting to be a chore.

And here I am seriously considering becoming the Scoutmaster for the boy scout troop.

I just got back from helping the Boy Scouts prepare Hamilton UMC for Room in the Inn. We set up for the guests, including their bedding, and cooked and served dinner. And as expected, it was time well spent. Which really is part of the problem. I enjoy what I'm involved in. I don't know where to cut back. I guess I need to just keep in mind that this week was just a weird connection of several unusual things. It's the thought that "Oh man, gotta go out again tonight" that's the issue. Once I get there, I'm cool.

Actually, a LOT of this stress I'm feeling is work-related. And I bring a lot of that on myself. I want things to be perfect, and when some of the people I work with keep things from being as good as they can be because they don't care as much as I do, it gets to me. And that makes me tired. And that makes me not want to do anything. And on and on.

So I'll keep trudging along, trying to contribute and participate. I really think I just need a vacation, which is coming up the last week of March. Do you ever notice that, the closer a vacation is getting, the more you realize you need it? Is that a self-fulfilling prophecy?