I have a long memory.
Like most of you however, I frequently walk into a room and forget why I
went in there. I once drove to the
mainland from the island and then completely forgot why I was there, so I
turned around and went back home.
Shortly after that, I weaned myself from the antidepressants.
But my long term memory reaches to great distances. Mostly, it’s the times in my life that either
made a great impact, or that looking back, were some of the best times. I just didn’t know it then.
This particular memory doesn’t seem to fit into either of
those categories, but I’ll tell it anyway because it’s slightly humorous. And because it’s a Kate’s Motel story that
only a couple of you have heard.
Kate’s Motel in Atlanta didn’t have NEAR the amount of chaos
that Kate’s Motel on the island had. But
when the chaos hit, it hit good.
First things first, you need some background information on
my manager. We’ll call her “Slim”. We’ll call her this because she was once very
overweight, like yours truly. Once she
had her first child, she realized that she wanted to live to see that child
grow into an adult, so she applied the appropriate discipline and dropped 100
lbs. Went from a size 20 to a size 6, I
believe.
Because of this massive weight loss, a phenomenon
occurred. You’ve seen it before, I’m
sure. Chunky person loses weight, chunky
person looks great, chunky person suddenly becomes expert on how to diet and
exercise and proclaims themselves spokesperson for the fatties of the world and
vows to preach this new weight loss religion to the masses. No pun intended.
She set her sights on me, naturally. LEH2 WAS causing me to slowly turn into the
broad side of a barn.
Between making me lap the parking lot with her in the dead
of summer, to not allowing me to use to use the elevator, this woman
contributed to the production of an eating disorder more than anyone else I’ve
ever known. She would literally take
food out of my hand as it was on its way to my mouth. I could understand this action if I ate all
day every day. But my normal lunch? There’s a limit. Especially from an employer. It became her personal mission in life to
make my poundage go away
It was a Wednesday morning.
I remember this fact because Wednesday’s were the days that this
particular guest checked out of Kate’s Motel.
He was a regular. He drove a
delivery truck on a route to movie theaters to deliver the candy that everyone
loves so much. Greatest guy one could
have the pleasure of knowing.
Truthfully, he was one of my favorite guests and I looked forward to
being able to chat with him on Wednesday mornings. This day, he brought me a gift. A Godiva chocolate gift. A WHOLE BOX of Godiva caramel chocolate bars,
that were just a few days past the expiration date.
Far be it from me to criticize gourmet chocolate. Screw the expiration date, they look like
gold to me. Thanks, love!
Excited about my prize, I waved goodbye to him and took the
case of 20 chocolate bars back into the office where Slim was working on
something unimportant.
Me: “LOOK! Look what the movie theater candy guy gave me!”
(shows chocolates)
Slim: “Oh, that’s great!
I can take those with me on my sales calls.”
Me: “Umm, no. This
was given as a gift…to me. They aren’t
going on any sales calls.”
Slim: “Kate. Do you
really think you need those?”
Me: “…”
Slim: “Be honest. Right this minute, would you rather lose
weight, or eat a chocolate bar?”
Me: “Right this minute you say? Hmm. Right this minute. HMMM. Well…right this minute I’d really like to sit
here in front of you and eat this chocolate bar. I don’t even really like chocolate.”
So I did. And rather
than allow her even ONE wonderfully creamy, melt in your mouth, chocolatey
caramel Godiva bar, I took a few home to LEH2 and Ryan, and gave the rest to
guests that were nice to me.
Because being nice to a person takes you much further than
belittling a person.
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