Reminded my of this email I recieved a while back.
A new retiree greeter at Wal-Mart just couldn’t seem to get to work on time. Every day he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, real sharp, so the boss was in a quandary about how to deal with it.
Finally, one day he called him into the office for a talk. “Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a bang up job, but your being late so often is quite bothersome.”
“Yes, I know boss, and I am working on it.”
“Well good, you are a team player. That’s what I like to hear. It’s odd though, your coming in late. I know you’re retired from the Air Force.
What did they say if you came in late there?”
‘They said, “Good morning, General.”
I rather hope the story is about Ms. Jarret is true, but regardless of that it reminds me of a story told by one of my law school professors, a great raconteur who had been a senior partner with a New York City law firm before retiring and teaching law at the University of Virginia.
According to the story, Pat and Mike had been good friends in middle school but as they grew older and became stars on the high school football team they became bitter rivals; they came to dislike each other passionately.
After high school they went on to college. Pat then went into the service of the church, Mike into the service of the country. Many years later they met in Union Station; they had not seen each other for many years. Pat was resplendent in his bishop's robes and Mike in his uniform as a Navy admiral. They immediately recognized each other, even though both had put on more than a bit of weight. Pat said to himself, "I need to show forgiveness and tolerance, despite my feelings; I simply must go and speak to that man." He accordingly approached Mike and said, "Excuse me conductor, but when does the next train for Boston leave? Mike, without blinking an eye, looked at his watch and replied, "It leaves in twenty minutes, Madam. But should a woman in your condition be traveling?"