Out of the Office

I finally spent some time away from my desk. And boy, what an adventure! I went to a store yesterday because I needed a picture frame (for the gifts decribed in the previous post.) I brought a gift card I was recently given. Of course, I made a stop at the library first and left with another 12 picture books.
It takes me a while to browse through the store and I manage to spend every dime on my gift card. I lug two heavy bags to my car and toss them inside. (I didn't need my key- one of my locks sometimes doesn't work right.) I closed the door and before I go to the driver's side, I begin the search for my keys. At that moment I realized that I didn't remember tossing them in my purse. I looked through pocket after pocket. Each passing minute I become more frantic.

They weren't in my purse.

"Ok, calm down," I tell myself and decide to search my bags.

Not there.

Surely, I thought, I left them at the checkout counter when I put everything down. Wait... did I even have them in my hands at the check-out? Oh, no. Panic sets in full force when I return to the counter and the cashier says nothing was left there.

So begins my hour-long search through every department that I've been to. I start with customer service to see if anyone found them. NO. That would be too easy. After I while I decide to find a pay phone to call my husband and let him know why I won't be home for a while. I needed the pay phone because my cell phone was at home sitting on my desk. Very helpful, don't you think?

I go back in the store and search, and search, and search some more. I can't remember how many times I visited each department. I made my third trip to customer service and they said someone just dropped off the keys. WHEW!!

By now it's 6:30 and the family has already eaten. I drive by a food and ice cream restaurant. I decided to treat myself for getting through a crazy situation. I'm seated at 6:40. It takes a while for someone to take my order - but didn't seem like a crazy wait.
The young guy waiter approaches me and asks have I been waiting long --nobody told him about my table. He tops off the visit with a friendly soft grin.

I tell him not to worry about it - it wasn't that long, really. Throughout the meal, he continued to check to see how everything was ( above and beyond the usual occasional checks most waiters/waitresses do). Each time, flashing that same bright grin. When it came time to order desert, he offers me a free one.

"Really?" I asked. He was quite sure, so I accepted. This led to the biggest grin I've seen the whole night. When I get the cheque, I notice that the dessert isn't even on it. (Isn't there a promotion code or something for things like that lol?)

Anyway, just the thought that someone expected me to be as young as the waiter was, more than made up for my lost key adventure. If I had just went home and pouted instead of treating myself, I wouldn't have encountered that silver lining of the day. To be fair and show my appreciation, I included the cost of the desert in my tip. So what would have been a 2 or 3 dollar tip turned into an $8.00 tip. But that's okay. After all, there was some ice cream in it for me.