Wednesday Night

Wednesday night was busy. It was more like a Friday or Saturday night. And I had a few interesting encounters.


There is this woman who used to come in every night after work. She would buy beer and cigarillos for her husband. I used to tease her about the beer and tobacco because she was pregnant. Really pregnant! I asked her how long she planned to work and she said and she said as long as she could. I believe she worked nearly till her labor started. I had not seen her in a while and knew that meant she had had the baby. I saw her last night. She told me she had a healthy boy and that she had started back to work this past Monday.
I asked her, “How is work going?”
She said, “It’s fine. I didn’t have any parent-child separation issues. This is my third one, so I’m used to it.”
I don’t know the details of her family life and I’m not questioning her love for her children, but I think that is so sad.


Last night was like “tobacco night.” People were buying lots of cigarettes AND cigarillos. One girl bought one pack of cigarettes and ten Dutch Master cigarillos! Ten!


I thought it was busy and a deputy came in and said they were busy too. Crazy night.


Then there was the mop bucket incident. We have two free-standing coolers that I need to drain and then refill with ice. I started with the smaller one because it usually only takes one bucket. As it drained I filled the mop bucket with soapy water to mop the floor. When it was full I checked the cooler. There was water everywhere! I grabbed the small mop, too much water. I grabbed the large mop, too much water. I knew this meant I needed to bring the mop bucket out on the floor. So I emptied it, brought it out, and began to mop it up. Just as I finished, I squeezed out the mop one last time. That last squeeze tipped the bucket over and spilled all the water I had just mopped up! I set it back up and cleaned it up again. As I headed back to the drain the bucket tipped over again!! I admit, I was furious. I mopped it up one more time and said out loud, “I am NOT putting this mop back in that bucket.”
It didn’t tip over. I drained it and filled it again with soapy water. Just as I finished re-filling it, the buzzer went off. Isn’t this just great?!!
I went to the register. It was an older woman getting coffee. I remembered her from the other night – she got the wrong lid both nights. “I guess you're still at the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“This must be serious.”
She said, “Yes. Tomorrow the doctor will decide what to do about my husband.”
Oh, that kind of serious. Now I feel terrible about being disturbed by the buzzer. I told her I would be praying for her.


There is this brother who works nights at the grocery store across the street. He used to come in on his break and then he stopped. I would see him after work when I went to Bi-Lo and once I asked him if everything was OK. He said yeah. I told him I had been thinking about him and was concerned. Well, he told me last night that he had backslid for a while. I think my question then touched him. Praise the Lord he has been (mostly) restored!


Then I got off! And I saw my schedule, I’ve got Friday and Saturday off again. Nice.