It is Better to Be Nice.

Yesterday I got my car washed. We had driven to & from San Diego over the weekend & it was gross. It was gross before we left & it managed {of course} to come back grosser. I headed to my local car wash bright & early.

During my 45 minute wait time I determined that the car wash builders/marketers/owners did not have me in mind when they set out 783 different toys right at Zack's eye level with a sign that said, "Do not play with the toys." Nor did they have me in mind when I ventured outside to find a huge waterfall water feature with streams & perfect climbing rocks surrounding it with a sign that read, "Do not climb on the rocks."

It was nice enough outside that I frankly decided I wasn't going to care if Zack fell into the water. I figured everyone else waiting could have used that entertainment anyway. Nor was I going to care that he threw some rocks into the water either...isn't that what boys {or any kid for that matter} do?

What I did care about though was when they presented me my car & I opened the trunk to put in the stroller only to find it was NOT vacuumed, but still full of sand, crumbs & any every other variety of crumb.

I showed the guy & he remedied it in a lame way...by blowing it out onto the car behind me. Then he told me to just remind the front guys next time to do a good job on the trunk. I raised my eyebrows & replied in a not so understanding tone that I should not have to remind the vacuum people to actually vacuum my trunk. Call me crazy.

Fast forward 3 hours. I am in Wal-Mart. Zack is crying. Zack is screaming. Zack is beyond help in his fit...over gardening gloves. We continue on. We are stared at. Zack is consoled by strangers & ignored by me. Normally, these things frazzle me. But today it did not. I reached the check out & laughed that I thought someone could use a nap. Then we laughed over the fact that it all started over gardening gloves. Then I left.

Only to realize some items did not get paid for.

We returned.

Still screaming in case you were wondering.

To laugh some more with the checker.

Then we left again.

And I realized, it is better to be nice. It is better to laugh.

And next time, I will kindly remind the vacuum peeps to actually vacuum.