Spousal Siblings

Today, Dan L. came in regarding a job at the Front Desk. During the course of our discussion, he told me the long story about his family. I thought it was really sweet that he was taking the time to share that kind of personal information with me. At one point, he referred to his wife as his "sibling." I had a hard time not laughing, and was certain that it was a simple mistake.

However, later, he and I were chatting with Becky about scheduling and he mentioned that his multiple medical conditions require time off for doctor's visits. He went on to tell us that he has some severe psychological issues that relate to problems he and his wife have had in the past that have resulted in multiple separations.

Neither Becky nor I blinked an eye at this, but soon after he left, we talked about it and Becky thinks those psychological issues COULD be related to his unique relationship with his wife (sister). Of course, this is all speculation, but based on the information we received.... seems like a possibility, no?

I do find it interesting that people are willing to share this kind of information with us, especially given the seemingly common perception that museum people are boring (and probably not exposed to drama regularly)!

Bringing a bit of sexiness to Brookside

Today Shannon started working here, to fulfill her community service obligation. She's a young girl, pretty, wore pajama pants on her first day, but whatever.

She mentioned that she worked until 3am last night, and I said, "Oh, where do you work?", then immediately mentally slapped myself, thinking, "God, Becky, she's probably a stripper or something."
Shannon goes, "Double Vision, the strip club. I'm a bartender."
She said this right in front of Julie. Julie, God bless her, didn't even bat an eye.

I think Shannon had me pegged as a nerdy museum girl so I knocked her socks off when I said, "Oh, yeah, I know the owner, Matt. What a sweetheart!"
(For those of you worried that I may have a sordid past, Matt is a regular at The Wishing Well.)

Now you're just nitpicking

At the aforementioned conference to which Mark wore leather panties, there was another disturbing occurrence.
There is an interesting woman who works at a local historical society. She is 30ish?, with very short black hair, thick, dark rimmed glasses, strong features, and an odd way of speaking in which she moves her head in short, quick motions from left to right and up and down without making eye contact with anyone. She is odd. I've seen her at conferences before, and needless to say, she is memorable. I digress.
On Monday Joy and I attended a session in which this woman sat in front of me, in my direct line of sight to the presenters. Things got a little boring, and (I'm going to call her Sari) Sari was feeling the lack of excitement. She began to scratch her head. And not normal scratching, but the top of the head, bent wrist, chimp-like scratching. She would then look at her fingernails with interest, and then she would PUT THEM IN HER MOUTH. She did this a few times before I looked over at Joy with horror, who started laughing and said, "I thought I was the only one who noticed!"
Oh no, Joy, you weren't.

Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

When you do, He'll be waiting.

A very sweet 81 year old member came into the museum today, and started telling me all sorts of miscellaneous information.
First of all, she needed to call her husband because he was unaware that she'd left the house and she really wasn't supposed to be driving, although he'd tested her on her driving last week and she did fine.
Then she let me know that she was a songwriter and a CD of her music was in our gift shop. She had me open one of the CDs and play it on a radio so that she could sing along to each track and tell me about why and how she wrote it. "I wrote this one lying in bed. I wrote THIS one in one day."
Because a lot of the songs were religious, she then started to talk about how she used to be on welfare and didn't believe in God but then she became a Mormon. She asked me what I thought it meant when the Bible said from "dust to dust." I paused, hoping it was a rhetorical question. It wasn't. I answered, incorrectly, in her opinion, and she asked again, "No, think about it. Dust to dust....what does that MEAN?" Luckily I must have looked very blank and she answered the question for me, then urged me to attend her church next Sunday.
AS IF!

Leather Panties

Today, at the museum's conference I participated in a panel discussion about cultural entrepreneurship. Whatever that is. Anyway, my fellow panelist, Mark, kept me entertained throughout the presentation. At one point, I whispered to him that he was being dominating. He then wrote me a note that he was wearing leather underwear. Seriously. Try controlling yourself in front of a group of peers after that one.

He's Not Paying

My first call of the day today was from a woman who immediately launched into a long story about how her husband was failing to make alimony payments. She called to see if we could provide her with the number for Saratoga County Settlement Service (or something like that).

Seriously. This is when a phone system with an automatic answerer would REALLY come in handy. Is it worth my time to spend 15 minutes on the phone with a distraught ex-wife?