shave and a haircut


when faced with trials in your life, what do you do? when someone calls into question your work ethic and the question is 100 percent valid, how will you respond? when you fail to show respect for your co-workers by not pulling your load, what will be your next step?

i pondered these questions in the few minutes that it took to get a haircut yesterday. this haircut was my first in i cannot remember how many years. i can't really explain why i chose to get a haircut instead of going upstairs, pulling out my clippers and my one guard and just taking it all off like i've done once a month for just this side of forever. it wasn't a decision i made after any real reflection and in the grand scheme of things the decision will be moot and the hair will be back in a couple weeks. it was an interesting experience nonetheless. hannah was with me and sat politely and quietly as the lady took her shears to my head. hannah was probably fascinated for this was the first time in her life that she had seen anyone other than daddy or mommy take shears to my head. the lady commented several times about hannah, but i had trouble concentrating. not that i didn't want to talk about hannah, i just couldn't get the above questions out of my head.

in different but so many words, the lady and third manager (of three) at the store was asked these questions. her response? she threatened to quit.

"how about that?" i thought to myself. in the face of adversity and discomfort all brought upon her by her own actions (or lack thereof), she chose the easy way out. there was no owning up to her culpability. there was no sure-fire acknowledgement of her laziness followed by a vow to do better. she just moped and said that she wanted to quit. my thought process after hearing this was two-fold. my first? "HELL YEAH!!!" finally, some dead weight dropped from the sinking ship that is our staff. granted, the dead weight would not be forced to walk the plank. it was more that she had just tripped over a rope on the deck and fell over, but it was a small victory nonetheless. my second? "shit." if she quits, i am going to have a really hard time getting away to the beach next weekend. not that i really am worried about that. she was bluffing. hard. asking for sympathy in the passive-aggressive way that everything out of my control is handled at the store. if it were up to me, i would have called her hand so hard that you would have thought that i was holding pocket aces and the river just turned over the other two. (how about that poker reference, huh? stupid poker. the only con to having espn.) but it's not up to me fully. i can voice my displeasure to anyone that will listen, but the "resignation" would have to be accepted by the market director. and by market director i mean king of the passive aggressive army that is pet supplies "plus" as i know it.

i know this all sounds silly. i don't want to be a whiner. i still like my job for the most part. i like most of the staff all of the time and all of the staff some of the time. i do wish joseph and beandon and dustin and april were still around to lighten things up. i do like my job. i just wish i could make it better. maybe sooner rather than later. who knows.

i guess i bring this up here because easter sunday is a couple days away and we'll all hear about the renewal and new hope that i wrote about tuesday all weekend long. i hope that those of us that hear the good news can hang onto it for longer than through lunchtime on sunday (sorry to go all rick owen on you.). i do hope that i and we can hear it and know that it's ok to want things to be better. in our life. at our job. and striving for that "better". we don't have to be conniving. we don't have to step on toes. we just have to call a spade a spade. if something's not working out, then just change it. if something's in the way of you/us being truly happy and able to live out a more meaningful life for our god, then remove it. those of you that know me know that i am all about second chances, but when second chances become tenth and fiftieth and hundredth chances and nothing has gotten any better, well, you've done all you can do.

god so loved us that he sent jesus to help us be better. not to be content with our belief in his sacrifice and wallow in mediocrity. not to hold tight to our comfort zones and allow "it is what it is" to be our life motto. he gave us reason and the ultimate second chance to be better. to be happy. to move on from something we aren't good at or that isn't working out to something fulfilling.

we'll see how that works out for us (me) this year.