Contradictions abound...

Humans are interesting creatures for many reasons. One of the most obvious is their ability to completely contradict themselves without even seeing it. Here's a good example:

A guy stomped into my department the other day looking for some kind of unfinished wood to use to fix his towel rack. I'm not really sure as to how the towel rack came out of the wall or why he couldn't just put it back up (random sidenote: when I was in fifth grade, a friend of mine was spending the night, and she tried to hang from the towel rack in my parents' bathroom, and the thing just ripped right out of the wall-to this day, my dad refers to her as the chimp-so my bet is on some kind of similar incident). Anyway- he brought me (please remember I work in the FABRIC department) a wooden object made for hanging towels or coats, etc. He, in his most annoyed tone, wanted to know if we had anything similar to that but without the pegs. I said, "You mean like a plain piece of wood?" He looked at me like I was crazy and replied, "No- it needs to be just like this, but without the pegs." I informed him that all our unfinished wood was on the aisle he had just been down, and I even called a manager just to make sure. I then suggested he try one of the home repair stores (after all- he was repairing something in his home). His response- he had already been there and they sent him to me. I think he was beginning to think we were conspiring against him. We weren't- I promise. Anyway- he made a few rude comments and huffed off as if I was personally responsible for his dilemma. (But hey- I wasn't the one swinging from his towel rack) The contradiction came when I noticed he was covered in Jesus gear. Yep- that's right- the rudest customer of my day was wearing a t-shirt from a Christian school and had an "I love Jesus" key chain hanging from his pocket. All I could think was, "Dude- if you are going to be a jerk, please don't make matters worse by plastering the Prince of Peace's name all over your actions."

I must say though, as quickly as I judged him, I also had to realize how often I am cranky or just flat-out rude to innocent people who are just in the middle of my frustration. Good wake-up call for me.