The Burning Bush

One man's revenge.

This is the blog that was to be published on Dec. 21, prior to our son's death. Philip liked my blogs; he would have wanted me to share this and the blogs that will follow in the days to come. 
 
I saw in the news that a man in San Antonio grew impatient waiting at Denny's counter to pay for his meal. His patience ran out, and so did he, but not until he set the lobby Christmas tree on fire. It was kind of a twisted Christmas greeting.

A funny thing happened to me before I heard that news story. I had stopped by a famous place that sells things for only a dollar, and as I got out of my truck and walked in, I noticed several of their employees puffing on cigarettes and watching me. At first I guessed it was because I had parked in the handicapped zone, but then I realized they were just watching to see if I entered their store. If so, they would calculate how long it would take me to shop and get to the counter, so they could finish their smokes in peace.  Good plan.

But as luck would have it, the plan didn't work. Almost as soon as I got in the store a lady came to the register with a basket of items. I guess  the smokers either didn't realize she was in the store, or just didn't care. Let's go with the latter.  The lady stood there, and stood there, probably two minutes, which in standing-at-the-counter time is about a week. Finally the gang of workers returned to the store and without any apology, one of them rang up the lady's items. I refer to her as a lady, because she said and did nothing. If that had been me there would have been weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Wait, wait, I've got exact change!

No one minds waiting at the counter while we senior citizens rummage around in those little plastic purses looking for exact change. My mother was in her glory  when the bill came to something ending in 99 cents. It's a pride thing. We THINK we're speeding things up.

 It's okay when customers in front of me count out $37.00 worth of coupons while  I wait. But it's crossing the line when the entire staff of a retail store has a smoking party in the parking lot.

Back to the guy who burned down the Christmas tree at Denny's. If they ever catch him, he'll be in big trouble, but I really hope they don't. I hope he gets away with making a statement about the privilege of having a job, the importance of being thorough and efficient, and the danger of leaving an irate customer alone with a dry Christmas tree. A handmade sign has shown up at that Denny's counter.

I guess my guy made his point.