Monday, August 04, 2008

Clanking Bad Day


A few days ago I got to witness a cleaning lady at the canteen who had butter fingers.

She accidentally dropped a plastic plate onto the floor while clearing the tables. The sudden loud sound startled some ladies who were having their breakfast. It made a few people nearby a little agitated for giving them a fright. No one wants to be startled while sipping a hot cup of coffee.

After a few seconds of unwanted attention, everyone went back to their own business eating their breakfast. It was after all, just a normal, one-off incident. It was not.

Soon after, heading to the dish washing room, she dropped the whole stack of dirty dishes from her trolley just before the entrance. That sound reverberated loudly across the whole canteen like a collapsing building.

This time, it gave everyone a nice, good fright. Even the stall owners who were cooking inside stopped and came out to look.

It must definitely be an embarrassing long moment for that poor lady. It was really very loud... the second time around.

I could see her, for a split second, stood up motionless, shocked at herself and maybe thinking what was wrong with her that day.

It made her boss come out from the drinks counter and gave her a stern stare at her while she hurriedly picked up the dishes, helped by her co-worker. Good thing the dishes were plastics!


"What's wrong with her today, man?" A friend's reaction to the ruckus she kept creating.

"Well, it can happen to anyone..." I spontaneously replied almost sounded like I was defending her, as we turned our heads back to our table and continued with our mindless morning chat and jokes, "it is one of those days."

That was that. Everyone survived and went on with their business.

No, it was not over.

She did it again... at lunchtime.

She dropped a another plate while coming over to her dirty dishes trolley from the table she just cleaned. The plate dropped onto the stool and down onto the floor together with the leftover food. It was not a pretty sight. A lot of work for her to clean up the mess though.

Though the sound was muffled mostly by the lunchtime crowd noise, the mess was an unwanted spectacle.

She stopped in her tracks. Stood there and stared blank for a few seconds in disbelief.

Unbelievable to me too. She definitely was having a bad day. Something on her mind that was distracting her that made her lady butter fingers that day. Poor Lady.

I can relate to having a bad day. Everybody does and hate it too. At least it shall pass... as quickly too just like the cleaning lady.

She is back to her own normal, non-butter-fingers self again after noticing her going about her work these past week. Good for her.

Hope everything is alright for her now. Hope everyone knows that everyone gets one bad day some time and every one else should give that poor soul a break... dishes and all.

4 comments:

  1. sorry about all that I hope all is okay

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well I can certainly relate to "butter finger lady"! I've gone through a lot the last year, "take care of this take care of that "keep going keep going" "no back up"..etc.

    In the last year I've bumped into things alot, also bumped my head on kitchen cabinets a few times, ouchey!...and I've also dropped a lot of things. I am not normally like that but when under stress we all tend to do this...so I'm told.

    If I had been there I would have gone right over and helped the woman every single time she did that that day! As I know and can relate to how she feels..and I do hope that she has less stressful days at her work place from now on.

    We all need a little help and understanding from others around us from time to time..this world would be a better place if we were.

    Thanks for sharing this with us. I can relate to her!

    Rocky steady!:o)

    Rhiannon

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Both,

    Thank you for stopping by.

    C-Dell | Nice to see you back here again. Hope you are doing well in your studies as you have a lot to offer the people around you.

    Rhiannon | Yep! I believe everyone has gone through a few times in our lives.

    The lady has been working there for long, I think it was because she was distracted by some things other than work itself.

    I had days like and it was a tough day to end. Like you said, a little understanding from everyone goes a long way for the person... or for ourselves.

    Be safe and have great days ahead my friends.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gosh...poor woman...
    Sometimes, the more we concentrate on not wanting these things to happen the more they are likely too...
    At work recently, I was walking through the restaurant with a large pot of tomato ketchup. I arrived at the table thinking ''I will not spill any of that on the lady in the white trouser suit'' and sure enough it slipped out of my mand and a dollop landed on her white suit...eeww.

    ReplyDelete

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Muhd Imran
PAL Blogger