Divine Intervention......maybe.......maybe not......

I wasn't looking for my job when I found it.  I was unhappily working at Target, but figured I could tough it out awhile longer while I tried to figure out what to do next.   I was going through Craig's List one day and happened upon an ad for a job in downtown Oregon City at a little furniture shop that had always caught my eye.  It is one of those places you pass several times per week, but never stop in.  I had always planned to.  They put some of their stuff out on the sidewalk so that anyone driving by the busy intersection would see that they had great stuff.  Since the job was posted on Craig"s List I figured there would be several applicants, but it wouldn't hurt to try.   I typed up my resume', wrote a letter and dropped it by.  As soon as I walked into the shop I loved it.  I wasn't quite sure what they thought about me, but it became crystal clear to me that I needed a change and that this would be a good one.

I was nervous when they hired me.  I started learning to use tools, do minor repairs and make old furniture look new again.   Downtown Oregon City is a wonderful place to work.  It is full of history and colorful characters.  Getting used to some of these characters has been challenging for me at times.  I have a kind heart and that can lead to awkward situations.   There was the day that I spent over three hours being held captive by the one armed man.  He wasn't physically holding me captive, he just wouldn't leave the shop and I was too scared to ask him to.  He looked a bit deranged with his dirty hair and beard.  He wouldn't look me in the eye and he paced a lot.  In the front of the store, in the back of the store, I didn't know what to make of him.  I texted one of my friends, I texted my boss and I called my husband.  They were all telling  me in different ways to make him leave.  If he was making me nervous, then of course he was making customers nervous.  He would sit and read for awhile, then resume his pacing.  He would go outside and smoke, then come back in again.  I let my imagination run wild and was sure he was plotting my demise.  My boss offered to come in.  I declined, I needed to take care of it without him.  My husband came by on his way home from work to check out the situation.  He said the only way for me to feel comfortable at work was for me to take care of it on my own.  He was there if I needed him, but it was up to me to say something.  All it took was for me to finally politely ask him to leave.  He ran out and I have never seen him again.  I felt so stupid for letting the situation drag on when the solution was so simple.  Since that day I have grown thicker skin and have been pretty good with handling tough situations.

Today I was feeling jumpy.  There was some kind of police activity going on outside and though I had several policemen within shouting distance, I was still feeling alone and vulnerable.  As I was putting my lunch in the refrigerator I found a cigarette.  My co-worker must have dropped it when she brought some stuff in overnight.  I put it on the counter for her to find later and went about my business.   I was fully engrossed in vacuuming a love seat when I realized I wasn't alone.  I looked up and a homeless woman I try to avoid was standing there staring at me.   She is well known in the area and isn't always pleasant.  She likes to yell at people.  I turned off the vacuum cleaner and sent a silent prayer that I could handle whatever she had to say.

She asked me if I had a cigarette.  I thought of the cigarette that I had found only a half hour before.  To me it was divine intervention.   I could not handle being yelled at by this woman today.  I told her that I don't smoke and usually don't have cigarettes, but today I happened to have found one and that she was welcome to have it.  She mumbled a gruff thank you, took it and left.   I felt happy to have averted a negative situation and resumed my day in a better mood.

When my boss dropped in later this afternoon I told him about how I happened upon this cigarette and was so happy to have it to offer when the lady appeared.  He said I should never have given it to her.  Now she will be back expecting more.  I didn't think of it that way.  I think I am going to continue looking at it from the perspective I started with--it was a good thing.  The cigarette was divine intervention on a day when I couldn't handle a confrontation.   If she comes back expecting more, I don't know what I will do.  I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it.  Maybe if she returns and yells at me I will politely ask her to leave. If I am lucky she will run out the door and I will never see her again, if I'm not, I may have to start carrying a cigarette in my pocket.