How Sad Is That?

The other day, we had a torrential downpour. I'm talking, the kind where the rain is driving sideways and the hail is flying freely. The temperature dropped several noticeable degrees in minutes. It was windy, dark, and not just a little startling. But we were warm, safe and dry, so we thought little of it, except to marvel at the ferocity of it.

Later, when things were settling down a bit, I had to run Dr. D (which now stands for Dr. Defense.... pics coming tomorrow with a fuller explanation of why...) over to football practice.  On the way home, I noticed a local utilities worker packing up his truck. He was working under some trees, was thoroughly soaked and I really felt bad for the poor guy. The temps had not climbed back up at all - and wet and cold is probably the worst combination of "states of being" that I can think of in moments like that.

I pulled over to the shoulder of the road and rolled down my window.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, ma'am?" He got an almost angry look on his face, immediately as I opened my mouth.

"I just wanted to stop and tell you that you guys do great work and I'm thankful you are out here today."

Now he had a puzzled look flashing across his face, "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious. I'm pretty sure you need to hear it today."

"Seriously? Ma'am, NO ONE ever tells me that. Usually, they stop by to tell me exactly the opposite. Wow. Thank you very much."

I smiled, and put the car back in drive, "Well, I am thankful. And I'm glad I told you. Have a great day."

As I drove away, I was chuckling a bit to see him standing by his truck, watching me drive away. He still looked dumbfounded. And all I could think was how sad it is that folks actually stop on the side of the road to tell a random utility worker what a terrible job he (or, to be fair, his company) does to take care of its customers. And how sad it is that he was genuinely shocked that I wasn't doing it, too.

Really. How sad is that.