triet XLI - Weird Things at Work (as promised)

(1) Last week my brain at work went a little loopy so that I was having trouble performing very simple tasks.

Chatting mid-morning with an uber-sweet customer about life - and the joy of adequate slumber and weekends - I said that during the morning I had been so out of it with zombietiredness that, "when I was counting change, I forgot what number came between 14 and 16." It's actually a true story.

He nodded with little surprise and said that that was exactly what he had been talking about.

(2) Couple weeks ago I was bugging a guy who said he was going to quit smoking in the new year. I suggested that he stick with the small king after he ordered a large king for the first time ever. He said in a controlled, defiant tone, "Don't tell me what to DO, devil-woman!"

It was amazing. Never been called "devil-woman" and this instance was really funny.

(3) A few Mondays ago I had the most amazing experience. I was very careful to put on battle gear in the morning before my shift and even the night before I was psyching myself up. A TON of the regulars came in that day (normal for a Monday) and this included the men who I am tempted to look at and/or speak to in an inappropriate manner.

I was astonished by how much I wasn't looking at the fit, young, attractive men that were in the vicinity. I mean, regulars I can often get over because we can have conversation but the one-timers and passers-through, THEY don't know how long I've been ogling their backside. But, this day I didn't look. It was like I had stood too long in front of a hip-height microwave. Just no drive. (This is, of course, no kind of long-term concrete change just a good day that ideally would turn into a good week, then a good month and so forth.)

The Kryptonitest guy of all came in that morning and I DIDN'T notice him for like five minutes. Literally did not see him in line for Tims until HE caught MY attention. I said hello and then, though I had no customers and could have gone over to chat I just didn't. I stayed put and continued gazing out the front window. WEIRD. Couldn't believe it.


And THEN... in walks a man I haven't seen in months. He looks a lot like Christan Bale (but MORE....) and I call him Batman.

[By way of apologizing that I didn't have his smokes ready sooner, I told him I hadn't even seen the Batmobile pull up. He played it cool with a half-smile and told me it was the work truck.]

I couldn't believe that on THIS day, the day when the Lust Monster couldn't find me, it's the Caped Crusader who walked in after literally five months. I felt like the devil had pulled out the big guns and this is sorta funny to me.

I didn't lust but I did go a bit googely.

I explained the situation this way to a friend: "With every other guy there's a voice in the back of my mind saying, 'No, no, stop; this is off-limts,' but with him, there IS no back of my mind."

It came out before I could think about it but it's true. That's part of the definition of "googely".