Attitude is everything...

So I am headed to work this morning and I pull out of the driveway at the usual time of 5:20 am. My nieghbor is apparently headed out of town and catching an early flight at the airport so we give each other a strange stare through the darkness - him because he probably didn't realize that I leave the house this early every morning and me because I never see anyone else leaving their house this early and was surprised by the company. Better to be surprised by him than a snake.

SIDE STORY: Eric comes into the bedroom last night around 9:45 and announces that he just did battle with a snake in our garage which of course prompts me to immediately pause CSI NY (come on people seriously - who doesn't love DVR) and get the full scoop. To my horror he starts the story with "I found him by the Highlander..." (which is the car I drive) and ends the story with "...and so I scooted him out of the garage". While the full story is not important or necessary to tell I will say that in the middle somewhere were words like "he was practically hopping around" and "he was lunging and hissing at me but I don't think he had fangs" and "he was about 12" long and about an inch around". Okay so basically what you are telling me is that in the dark of the morning when I go out to the car for work I need to be sure that the snake you found by my car did not come back which ever way he got in the garage in the first place and now he's really mad so maybe he has tried to make himself even more comfortable by curling up on the seat of the car and all of course while trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake our sleeping children!?!? I suppose next you're going to tell me to make sure he's buckled up for the ride to the office!?!? Amidst my barrage of questions, he tried to comfort me with words like "well it's not a rattler" and "I don't think it was poisonous" and "it isn't the bad kind, it will eat mice and bugs". So he only kills the bad kind? The BAD KIND is the SNAKE KIND and the good kind is the dead kind (certainly NOT the "scooted out of the garage" kind)!! Needless to say, I have never gotten into my car and out of the garage so fast in my life....actually now that I think about it, that was probably the reason for my neighbor staring at me - not that fact that it was 5:20 in the morning!!

So back to my original story...On my way to work once, maybe twice a week I go to a Starbucks that is too convenient not to stop (my side of the road, before the freeway, drive thru, love it, etc...). At any rate, it is usually the same person at the drive through window, her name is "JoJo" and she is a sweet lady that is probably in her late 40's/early 50's if I had to guess. She is always in the best mood and this morning was her usual chipper self and while I waited for my tall, non-fat, extra hot, caramel macchiato she engaged me in some very polite conversation about my kids (my two car seats give it away) and winning the Starbucks giveaway (which we are both hoping I do). As I pulled away, I realized how truly rare it is to get such pleasant customer service particularly for that time of the morning....sad commentary on today's world. Makes me think of a comment my mom said this past weekend "you know, I'm getting tired of tipping people for just doing their job" - and this from a lady who has made customer service an art form. She is a "JoJo" for sure! Contrast my pleasant start with JoJo to the second half of my morning commute which included not one, not two, but THREE cars whizzing around me going at least 90-95 mph and giving me a stare like I was a 90 year old grandma who can't see over the steering wheel and out for a Sunday stroll. I watched them frustratedly cut in and out of traffic for several miles...I'm sure giving several other safe drivers the same irritated glare that I got. Now I know it is early in the morning and I know what it is like to wake up late or need to get somewhere but when you live in the DFW metroplex and you commute - you should expect and prepare for traffic. I found myself saying (almost out loud) that those people could use a little JoJo spirit this morning. I guess it just proves the old saying "Attitude is everything and everything is attitude"!! Here's hoping we all have more JoJo's in our day and manage to BE a JoJo to everyone around us (except of course the snakes).