Well, today I’m feeling super humbled. And by a 6- piece duvet set, of all things.
This one, to be exact.
This weekend, I was cleaning up and feeling this drive to be all organized and stuff (again, nesting? Who knows?) and it occurred to me it was time to wash our bedding. Then it also occurred to me that I don’t have an extra set of sheets for our bed. Then, it also occurred to me that our bedding didn’t even match and looked kind of messily mismatched, and that got me thinking, wouldn’t it be nice to have a nice matching set of bedding like The Real Grown Ups that we are, and not a mishmash of sheets leftover from college days.
Therefore, following up on those thoughts, I made a trip over to the Costco yesterday morning, a short walk down our street, thinking ” I know they have pretty sheet sets and this way I don’t have to drive all over town looking for sheets”. Yay Costco, right? My other option was Ikea, but I just didn’t have the energy (Ikea shopping requires Energy, with a capital E).
Now, Costco in Taichung, or probably all over Taiwan, while a convenient place for us to get things that aren’t available anywhere else, is also a place of much frustration, because the local shoppers there are usually very inconsiderate, parking giant carts wherever they feel like even if it’s smack in front of you, they walk at a snail’s pace, bump into you with their carts, and at 8-months pregnant now, I don’t have the patience for that, but I really wanted new sheets.
So I went. I found the sheets. And I spent about 20 minutes choosing the ones I liked. Happily holding my sheets and the butter I’d also come to pick up, I stood in a long line for about another 15 minutes, giving withering looks to the lady behind me who kept bumping me with her giant cart, and feeling less patient by the second. I was ready to leave when it was my turn to check out.
And then. Then my sheets wouldn’t scan. So they called some help to go check the price, which was clearly labelled. Turns out, I think, that the item wasn’t even in the computer so they couldn’t ring it up at all. So they gestured me to stand aside while they tried to figure it out so I wouldn’t hold up the line. I was feeling super hot and grumpy by this time. Then a supervisor came over and said ” we are having a problem with this item now, you can leave your phone number and we will call you when you can come buy it” , which in my grumpy brain translated to ” you may not buy this item” .
I was angry, like pregnant lady angry. I shook my head, slightly pushed the supervisor and the sheets aside, took my butter, and stormed (rather, waddled) out of Costco, holding back my irrational pregnant lady angry tears.
Well, then I took it further when I got home, to get out my irrational anger over these poor unsuspecting sheets, by writing a not very nice email to Costco Taichung customer service, not really expecting an answer. I also posted a frustrated comment on Facebook, but later deleted it because I felt bad about being so angry.
Well, here’s what happened today. I got a phone call from a girl named Yvonne at Costco. Apparently they’d read that email, and apparently, took it seriously, and she wanted to apologize. Oh, I told her, thank you for calling, but really I should apologize because I shouldn’t have been so angry.
Yvonne says, it’s ok. The supervisor I pushed away yesterday could tell I was angry and felt bad because she really wanted to help me. So the manager ok’d them to give the sheets to me for free. Could they mail them to me?
Gosh, now I felt REALLY bad about my angry grumpiness. I told her, really, it’s ok, I’m pregnant and small things make me feel angry, I shouldn’t have reacted like that.
But anyway. I went in, thinking, I’ll buy the sheets. Really regretting sending that email, because I know it was irrational and I was just venting. But when I got there, Yvonne insisted that they give them to me for free. So out I walked holding this duvet set, now trying to hold back Pregnant Feeling Guilty Tears as opposed to yesterday’s Angry Tears.
And feeling super humbled. I have been so up and down in this pregnancy, one day so happy and productive, the next sad and depressed, the next angry and frustrated at EVERYTHING, and on it goes. And really, the Costco employees were trying to help me and they didn’t do anything to deserve that angry email I wrote.
I had a chance to show some kindness, patience, and understanding yesterday to those employees, and instead I pushed them away with what I only can imagine was a look of pure frustration/anger on my face and walked out. I missed my chance because I didn’t control my emotions. And I don’t feel like I really should blame pregnancy for it.
So now, when I see these sheets on my bed, I hope they remind me to be kind. And to be understanding, and patient, and forgiving. And to control my emotions, even when I’m having a Grumpy Pregnant Day, or soon, a Grumpy and Exhausted New Mom day, and to not take it out on anyone, whether it’s Aaron (who generally gets the brunt of it..), my students, the other customers in a store, employees, coworkers, my daughter, or anyone. I hope these sheets make me think twice about the words I say (or write) in anger when I want to vent.
So that’s my story for today. I’m feeling very humbled. And I’m going to make my bed look pretty and hopefully remember to control myself, especially on those days when nothing feels like it’s going my way. I do have a choice, pregnant or not. And with God’s help, I hope I can learn to treat everyone with kindness, even those people who bump into my 8 month pregnant backside with their giant Costco carts. 🙂
ShAaron's Adventures 