My greatest virtue is my honesty
My greatest virtue is my honesty.
By Ezekiel Tyrus
A woman came into my work several days ago.
Is unsightly a worse word than ugly? Obese, bespectacled, teeth like damaged plywood, this unsightly woman may be Polynesian and possibly transgendered.
On this day, she wore a peach-colored tank top sans bra, big round brown nipples visible like cut salami.
Her looks have nothing to do with my feelings towards her. My capability for love includes all shapes and sizes, ethnicities and race, and genders, even those whose sex falls somewhere in between.
This woman came in through the front door and immediately said, “Hey, I’ve been gone for awhile! Did you miss me?!”
"No."
"No?!" Surprised by my brutal honesty, "Why not?!"
"Because you’re not a nice lady. You yell at people. You yell at me. You yell at my co-workers. Whenever I’ve offered to help you, you’ve snapped back at me. You’ve accused me of following you around when I’ve done nothing but walked past you."
"Well, perhaps I experienced karma than because I just had a heart attack and just got out of the hospital."
I said nothing and registered nothing. She could’ve told me she just had a turkey sandwich and the same expression would’ve remained on my face.
I simply didn’t care and while she probably knew I didn’t really care, she seemed genuinely hurt that I wasn’t even going to pretend.
In a challenging tone, her eyes wide open, “Are you saying I deserved that heart attack?!”
Same pokerface, “I’d never say anybody deserves a heart attack but when you treat people the way you do, you can’t expect me to give a damn.”
She smiled sadly and nodded her head.
We exchanged no more words.
She took care of her business; pulled money from the ATM, went to the pharmacy, did some shopping. Noticeably, she was nicer, more polite than usual.
When she left, the woman stopped in the doorway, looked at me thoroughly defeated, and waved.
I waved back.
Who knows if she will ever change, if there’s time or if she should even bother?
———————————-
It appears I’ve got enough material for a novel about my 5plus years working Security/Loss Prevention at a well-known drugstore chain.
-Ezekiel Tyrus. 7/3/2013
By Ezekiel Tyrus
A woman came into my work several days ago.
Is unsightly a worse word than ugly? Obese, bespectacled, teeth like damaged plywood, this unsightly woman may be Polynesian and possibly transgendered.
On this day, she wore a peach-colored tank top sans bra, big round brown nipples visible like cut salami.
Her looks have nothing to do with my feelings towards her. My capability for love includes all shapes and sizes, ethnicities and race, and genders, even those whose sex falls somewhere in between.
This woman came in through the front door and immediately said, “Hey, I’ve been gone for awhile! Did you miss me?!”
"No."
"No?!" Surprised by my brutal honesty, "Why not?!"
"Because you’re not a nice lady. You yell at people. You yell at me. You yell at my co-workers. Whenever I’ve offered to help you, you’ve snapped back at me. You’ve accused me of following you around when I’ve done nothing but walked past you."
"Well, perhaps I experienced karma than because I just had a heart attack and just got out of the hospital."
I said nothing and registered nothing. She could’ve told me she just had a turkey sandwich and the same expression would’ve remained on my face.
I simply didn’t care and while she probably knew I didn’t really care, she seemed genuinely hurt that I wasn’t even going to pretend.
In a challenging tone, her eyes wide open, “Are you saying I deserved that heart attack?!”
Same pokerface, “I’d never say anybody deserves a heart attack but when you treat people the way you do, you can’t expect me to give a damn.”
She smiled sadly and nodded her head.
We exchanged no more words.
She took care of her business; pulled money from the ATM, went to the pharmacy, did some shopping. Noticeably, she was nicer, more polite than usual.
When she left, the woman stopped in the doorway, looked at me thoroughly defeated, and waved.
I waved back.
Who knows if she will ever change, if there’s time or if she should even bother?
———————————-
It appears I’ve got enough material for a novel about my 5plus years working Security/Loss Prevention at a well-known drugstore chain.
-Ezekiel Tyrus. 7/3/2013
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A Story a Week with Zeke
Writer and Performance Storyteller, Ezekiel Tyrus is here for you, to tell tales and create characters.
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