That's not my job! I don't work here.

I love all of the wonderful opportunities I get to practice what I preach. Today after camp, we went to the library. And returned all of our materials with the exception of 1 book on cd (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). I asked the checkout girl how much we owed in fines and she scanned the card " $4.95" What a relief!

Then about 20 or so minutes we went to check out and she asked me did you return any of your items today? (Forgive the lack of punctuation I'm just trying to get the story out) SO I thought to myself, "didn't she just see me, the cute lady with 4 well behaved kids 20 minutes ago?" So I said yes all but, one. she then said, "Oh, because um, since you returned your items in the book drop, you are at your limit, I can't check out the rest of these items for you", I had another thought...."What do you mean since I returned my items in the book drop? was I suppose to return them somewhere else? Was I suppose to place them in her hands?" I then looked at her and said , Can somebody go and scan the books in then?' "I'll go check" she said.. The next thought that popped into my head was , "wow some people don't want to do their job, look at the expression on her face because I asked her to have someone go scan in the books that I returned, I never have this problem at my local branch- and I felt like letting her know"... At this point Cookie said, "what 's going on mommy?" I noticed at the corner of my eye that a woman was watching me I guess waiting to hear my answer. SO I turned to Cookie and said, She said we are over our limit , because the books we returned weren't scanned in, that's not my job, I cant go scan them in-I don't work here". SO she came back and didn't say a word and started scanning the rest of our items to be checked out. Probably because whoever was in the back told her to get back to her post and check out our books and put in the override code so that I can get the measly 10 extra books out. "Next time count your items before checking out, you have 40 out now and your only suppose to have 30". I looked at her and as pleasantly as I could said, "Okay". I then gathered my crew and my cart of items and left. Now looking back I can see how this event could have been very different if I said everything that came to my mind out loud. In this life I know one thing that is so true.. No, maybe two things, God doesn't lie and as the book of James puts it, the tongue is unruly, no man can tame it and it can set ablaze a forest. With it people bless God and curse men. My flesh so desired to give her a tongue lashing and I could have said, "Was I suppose to put the books in your hands and not the book drop, What do you mean the books aren't scanned in, Scan them in and check out the rest! Do I look like I work here? I never have this problem at my library". But instead, I calmly asked if they could be scanned in, and waited patiently even though my well behaved boys were twisting a pole and giving Dolly a copy of one of the books on display as she was minding her business in the stroller. For anyone who thinks keeping your mouth shut at times means your a wimp and your not sticking up for yourself, look at Jesus example and see how many times he kept his mouth shut. Sometimes keeping your mouth shut simply means not having to say your sorry. And if mine was wide open today I would have had to repented and I also would have clearly communicated to my 4 disciples that the only way to get your way in life is to be brazen, ugly, condescending, and sarcastic. What life lesson did they learn today?