Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Oops (01/14/10)
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TITLE: L For Lucy | Previous Challenge Entry
By PamFord Davis
01/19/10 -
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Truth is often stranger then fiction; and in some cases it is just as entertaining. We can all recall embarrassing moments, or something funny our children or grandchildren said. If Hollywood cameras were rolling, we might be nominated for an award. Can we see the lighter side of life and laugh at ourselves? Hindsight makes it easier. We are our own worst critic. Let’s learn to roll with the punches.
Both Lucy and Ethel and their counterparts Laverne and Shirley became involved in various money making schemes. The packaging of candy at a conveyor belt by Lucy and Ethel is a classic that still keeps us in stitches. If my memory is correct Laverne and Shirley worked in a toy factory after the sitcom shifted from Wisconsin to Southern California. Learning the ropes on any job is not easy; and the stress level is high. Could that stress be switched to laughter?
I remember a time when I needed extra money as a young wife and mother. I filled out several job applications at stores and restaurants close to our home. After I finished an application at A&W Drive Inn, the manager approached me. He conducted a brief interview and hired me as a Car Hop-Dish Washer. It would be a part time job and seemed like something I could handle. I would soon get on the job training.
My hands were in and out of hot soapy water most of the shift. Dish washing has never been a hated chore. Electric dish washers are wonderful; but the comforting feeling of hot dish water up to my elbows is something I enjoy. Maybe I never grew up and I like playing in soap suds. There is a down side to most things; and I discovered going from dish water to cold outside weather conditions is not a nice combination. My hands were chapped, cracked and sore. Hand lotion offered little improvement.
Any fan of A&W quickly remembers the chilled mugs to hold the famous root beer. The foamy head of soda really hits the spot when sipped off the top of the heavy handled mug. The glasses were so popular that customers even purposely removed them before returning their trays. The owners took inventory and I came up short. They docked me for the cost; and my small pay check shrunk a little more.
I will always be grateful that I did not need to wear roller skates when I took and delivered orders. That would have been instant disaster. If some one dropped a banana peel after making a banana split, I would have found it the hard way. I can not blame my most embarrassing escapade on skates, only my clumsy hands. I carried the tray with the requested order including the famous heavy A&W chilled root beer mug. The man rolled down his window and a routine procedure turned into a super-sized suds spill. The sticky root beer ran down inside his car and I wanted to become invisible. Oops! I do not think he laughed and applauded his free soda shower. He wiped up as much of the spill as he could, and likely repeated the story with aggravation. Lucy would have rushed home to cry in the loving arms of Ricky. I found needed comfort and encouragement from my husband. I tucked the story away filed under L for Lucy. If life is a balancing act I failed the test. Today remembering my awkwardness puts a smile on my big mug.
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I like the personal anecdotes, and the Lucy and Ethel parallels might not even be necessary. Give us more of your own foibles, and then the lesson at the end.
A really amusing read--thanks!