I was at Dollar tree the other day, doing a little shopping for unicorn marshmallows and other life necessities, and it was a pretty typical dollar tree. Busy, people with carts, overflowing, and one poor, tired individual it looked worn out was life working in the register. They were probably eight or nine of us in line and the guy behind me starts griping. And he was being loud, obnoxious, clearly making a point to make sure the cashier and everybody in the vicinity heard is discussed with the situation. I sat there and listened for a couple minutes, try to ignore him and mind my own business…
But anybody who knows me knows I’m not always the best of biting my tongue and I was getting frustrated With this yahoo. I tried to give him the old evil a lie to let him know that I was on the thin side of evil, and about to break through, but he was just not impressed that this little white girl and her brewing intolerance to the situation. I mean, seriously, we are at Dollar tree. The cashier is getting paid eight dollars an hour and really doesn’t give a fuck that we have to wait 20 to 30 minutes to get our dollar items and let’s be honest, some of that stuff pretty good for a dollar which is exactly why people like me in this guy behind me go to stores like dollar tree. Well, after a few minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore.
I turned and looked at this guy and probably a little too loudly said “well now, sir here’s the problem. You can’t go to Dollar tree expecting Von Maur treatment. That girl working doesn’t give a shit that you gotta wait 20 minutes, and even if she did, there’s nothing she can do about it. So you, my friend need to either lower your expectations, or start shopping at nicer stores.” Amazingly, it shut him up. And earned me a handful of applause from the other people, waiting in line who are tired of listening to this man run his mouth as well. The cashier even found a little glimmer of hope left in her soul and gave me what would constitute as a smile, despite the lack of teeth. Well, I’m pretty sure it was a smile…
It might’ve been gas, but I like to think it was a smile. You see, it seems to me a good majority of our problems in life come from our expectations. We get frustrated with reality for not meeting our expectations, and often our expectations are unrealistic. Heck, sometimes our expectations are realistic, but they just don’t happen and that leads to frustration and resentment. Unfortunately, often times changing reality is not a reasonable possibility … but you can always adjust your expectations .
So I have learned to lower my expectations in order to live a more satisfied and peaceful existence. I think the world would be a better place if more people did the same. Life really is not as serious and dramatic as we like to make it be often times. So I say let’s all lower our expectations, or shop at nicer stores, and try to give each other a little grace. Until next time, peace out.
