Glass half empty or half full? The parking lot attendant.
Providence. Saturday evening. Parking garage off Fountain Street. No attendant in sight. No directions to follow. Stuck on the access ramp with a gate across our path. Finally we decide to back down the ramp towards the main entrance, forcing cars behind us to move. At the bottom emerges a uniformed female attendant from a door on the wall. Not any words, not any directions, just walking and watching. Finally we roll down the window and ask her what to do. In an angry voice she yells at us that she was closing, then calls my wife a… (very bad word). Shocked, we roll up our windows as she continues to yell at us. Not a good experience for our young kids sitting with us in the car.
After we found other parking, we were walking the streets when sadly our youngest said that old women are mean. That was his young impression of the events. It was probably the first time he experience something so unprovoked. We stopped and talked to him about what had happened. We told him not to generalize, and that just because one person was mean does not mean all similar people are the same. We gave him some examples and we think he understood.
I told him we should be sad for the attendant. Angry all the time, mad at the world, working in a parking garage making a minimal amount of pay, and spending long hours like this weekend away from whatever family she might have, if any, in a dark parking garage. I am sure her life is miserable, but life is what you make of it, and some people simply choose to be miserable. Still no reason to lash out at customers – she should be fired.
There is a great inspirational site I frequent that provides me readings and videos that help me try and see the good in life. The site is www.simpletruths.com. One example of their inspiration can be found at http://thedreamsmovie.com.
Just think what the world would be like if each person took a moment out of their life to reflect on the positive things in their life.