A Senior Moment
At the local YMCA I observed a magical senior moment. Rather than sermonize or over-analyzing it, allow me to describe it with the hope all of us will follow the same path.
An elderly gentleman approached the front desk in a dripping bathing suit. He needed help. Embarrassed, his eyes stared at his wet toes as he described how he lost his locker key. Could someone help? A middle aged maintenance guy with a barbershop quartet mustache came forward with lock cutter, a long and yellow device with sharp jaws at the end. The elderly swimmer apologized and described how he spent a half hour at the pool, looking for the key. The mustached maintenance guy put his arm around the swimmer’s shoulder and said, “It happens to me all the time.”
In the locker room the elderly gentlemen paused before three lockers, all with similar locks. The maintenance guy remained calm and quiet as the swimmer tried to choose the correct locker. He picked one and the cutter snipped the lock as if it was soft butter. Wrong locker! “Not a problem,” said the maintenance guy. “Take your time.” The elderly swimmer, still dripping, stared at the remaining two locks as if he were mumbling, “eenie, meenie, miney moe.” He chose. Snip. Wrong locker!
The maintenance man patted the swimmer’s shoulder and said, “Thanks for narrowing it down for me.” The third broken lock was the charm. The swimmer repeatedly thanked the maintenance guy, changed into his clothes, and offered to pay for the other broken locks. “Not a problem,” said our hero. He then suggested the swimmer buy a lock with a different color, like bright pink, and to give the extra key to the front desk.
After the swimmer left, the maintenance guy with the barbershop quartet mustache, sat down on the bench. He spent the next hour and a half protecting the belongings of the two lock-less lockers. When the owners arrived, he apologized and explained how the YMCA will pay for the new lock. All in a day’s work.
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Thank you, Mark. This reminds me to be patient with my dad who is 92 and forgets just about everything.