Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Three Beautiful Things 01/04/16: Shyness at the Senior Swim, Roaming at the Library, My Favorite Post Office

1. My shyness kicked into double overdrive today when I arrived at my first Senior Swim water aerobics class.  The class went really well. I enjoyed being in the water and enjoyed the exercises.  By finding a spot to exercise on the fringes of the group, I was able to tamp down how self-conscious I felt as the only man in the class. But, after about 30 minutes, I was used to the situation. I like to be as invisible as possible among people I don't know and I couldn't figure out a way to hide or blend in this morning. Legitimate feelings or not, I felt like a sore thumb. I swam 100 yards (or were they meters?) after the class and look forward to more lap swimming.

2. I took some time this afternoon to roam around the Greenbelt Public Library, looking at what Great Courses are on DVD, thumbing through some cookbooks, and seeing what Harry Bosch novels were on the shelves and found Concrete Blonde and checked it out along with a Great Course on Shakespeare and another on Beethoven. I watched about 15 minutes of the Shakespeare course and I'm taking it back. I hope I find the Beethoven lecturer more interesting -- but it might be that I'm really not into lectures on DVD.  I'll see.

3. The Beltsville Post Office always has an employee working the floor -- she talks to people in the line, seeing if there's anything she can do to help shorten the line and help people on the spot. She walks people to self-service machines and helps them operate them. She laughs, reassures, guides, and helps alleviate the frustrations customers often feel when in the Post Office line. I was in line for about ten minutes -- it was legit -- the employees at the counter were doing efficient work -- and I saw this roaming employee give significant assistance to at least six people.  She's a terrific public employee in a post office fully committed to excellent customer service.

No comments: