I am typing this post without the use of the middle and fourth finger on my right hand. I am hunting and pecking, and it’s slow.

I closed the big sliding garage door on the fingertips of my right hand yesterday.

It was an accident and after I screamed and pried the door apart to release  my fingers the first thought in my mind, after “OUCH THAT HURT!” was, “I can’t believe I did that.”

But I had. Done that.

The transformer outside our house on the pole in the lane surged on Saturday. Fried our microwave, the power surge bar to my computer, and the electric motor to the garage door.

Hence why I was opening and closing it manually.

I debated going inside the house again to immediately put ice on it, but had a meeting to get to and drove off instead.

Only to discover, I had a flat tire.

Really?

I laughed. Couldn’t believe that either, but it was true.

And so, this post is short. There may not be a lot of posts the rest of the week either.

My fingertips need time to heal.

The moral of the story…

When power surges, pay attention. Don’t take shortcuts. Electricity can be dangerous. So can garage doors.

I could have gone back into the garage and used the handle to pull it down and then left via the person door. That’s how I’d opened the garage in the first place. Trying to do it the ‘faster’ way only created bigger pain.

As to the flat tire?

Really?

Namaste.

Have you ever had one of those encounters with a sales clerk where you had a plan on how it would go and it just doesn’t go the way you expected?

That was me yesterday.

I was returning an outfit to the Hudson’s Bay. I had bought it last week prior to coaching at Choices only to get it home to discover the clerk had left the security tags on all three items. The downtown Bay closes at 6. I debated and decided to drive to Chinook Centre to get the tags removed at the Bay there.

It was late and I was unhappy about the extra trip but wanted to wear the outfit the next day.

No such luck. I had bought it at the Olsen’s downtown, the sales clerk at the ladies clothing section told me. It’s not part of the Bay. Just a store within the Bay.

“But the sales receipt says, The Bay.” I said to the clerk.

“They use our system,” she replied and then promptly informed me that I should ‘rip the clerk’s face off’ when I took the items back.

I didn’t want to rip anyone’s face off, I told her. I just wanted to be able to wear the outfit the next day. Which in the end, I couldn’t.

So I decided to return it. I didn’t need to wear a reminder of how irritated I was.

Yesterday, on my way to meet my daughter and step-daughter for dinner, I went to the Bay downtown, walked up to the Olsen’s counter and told the clerk, who happened to be the woman who’d sold me the outfit last week, my story.

“Oh dear,” she replied. “I don’t know how that happened.”

Neither did I. I then told her how when I left the store the buzzer beeped. I walked back to the sales counter close to the exit where the clerk checked my bag on the scanner and nothing beeped. She told me I was okay to go and not to worry if the buzzer went again. Which it did.

“Well,” the clerk at the Olsen’s counter said after hearing that part. “She should never have let you go out again. That is inexcusable.”

Hmmm…. Like leaving the security tags on 3 items is inexcusable?

I decided not to engage in an ‘I’m the victim’ here exchange and told her I wanted to return all 3 items.

“If that’s how you want to get revenge that’s fine,” she replied.

Revenge?

“I’m not looking for revenge,” I said. “I’m looking for satisfaction. I would like to know how you are going to compensate me for the extra time and bother your mistake has cost me.”

“Oh. I can’t do anything about that,” she said.

“Then who can?” I asked.

“My manager.”

“Can I speak to her?”

“Yes, but she’s away for two weeks.”

I left my name and number and asked for the manager to call me upon her return.

And that’s where ‘expectations’ do not result in satisfaction.

I expected the clerk to be able to do something about providing me satisfaction for this situation. She did what she could. Refund my money. Beyond the refund though I wanted her to be contrite, apologetic and to not see me through her eyes of ‘seeking revenge’ but rather to see it through my eyes of “I am a frustrated customer and I am seeking satisfaction”.

She cannot see me through her eyes.

I also happen to know she is fairly new to the store as last week she was still in training. Not taking the security tags off is an oversight which her supervisor could have also checked for as she was there overseeing her on the day I purchased the outfit.

Human error is forgivable.

So is acting from her human condition.

As to Hudson’s Bay and Olsen?

They could get their act together and recognize if they are going to use the ‘same system’ for billing, they should use the same system for security tags too.

It is easy to get caught up in all the chaos and activity of the world around you.

Traffic, people, TV and computer and cellphones and other devices are constantly calling for your attention.

We all need a break.

Give yourself a break throughout the day.

No matter what you’re doing, take five or ten minutes to simply get present with where you are at outside and inside.

Sit quietly. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply. Slowly. In. Out. Slowly. In. Out.

Imagine a river of love rising up all around you.

It envelops your toes, your feet, your ankles, calves, knees, thighs and as it rises, it embraces you in warmth and love washing away all the tension of your day.

Let it keep rising and imagine that as it rises, your body begins to lift until you are floating on the river’s warm, beautiful surface.

Floating.

Gently. Effortlessly.

Spend five minutes simply resting in the river’s embrace knowing it is love that supports you, holds you up, keeps you safe.

Repeat several times throughout the day.

Namaste.