Random Acts

Mondays suck enough on their own, mostly. (Except when they fall on January 19.)

But to have something set the stage for complete stupidity for the whole day, let alone the week... this is just NOT the way to start things off.

I was already up way too late flipping between the Australian Open and the Katt Williams special on Comedy Central. Groggy in the morning is not the best way to start the week, but I hit the snooze a few times, got dressed and bounced to the metro.

I ALWAYS make a point to remember where I put my ID badge, which is also attached to my smart trip card for the metro. I've forgotten in a few times at home and it was such a hassle that from then on, I made SURE I knew where that sucker was.

So as usual, I walk in through the same door I always walk in, flash the card, and walk through the door. Somewhere in the hundred or so feet between the door and my office, the damn thing got dropped. Before I even got my coat off, I realized it was missing and quickly retraced my brief steps between a single hallway, the elevator, and my desk.

Nothing.

Two or three short minutes later, the blasted thing had disappeared.

So someone had to have picked it up right? Wrong. I call the security office every hour on the hour - nothing's come in.

Well it's got to be on the floor in this office somewhere, right? Maybe I kicked it under the desk or something. Nope.

Amidst my angst, in walks Bonita, one of the most fabulous custodians in the building. Will take care of anyone in her sights, any way she can. It's obvious I'm on the brink of tears (why, I have no idea - the frustration of thinking I might be insane got to me a wee bit). So she comes in, asks what's wrong, and I tell her.

"Let it go!" she says, pleading with me not to let this one little thing wreck my day.

After explaining to her that my badge AND my metro card with almost 100 bucks on it is lost, you know what she does? She reaches into the badge holder drapped around her neck, pulls out her smart trip, and GIVES it to me, telling me to keep it until mine is found.

I couldn't believe it. I'm sitting there telling her no - what if mine is never found? She insists not only that I take her card so I can get home, but that I believe the damn ID will find its way back to me - if I promise to stop worrying about.

Deal. So gradually as the morning wore on, I started to think about it less and less... and lo and behold, by 2:30 (about 5 minutes before I was about to leave for the ID office to go through the hell of getting a new one), the security office calls and says they've found my ID.

All this to say...... I had a necessary encounter with a random act of kindness. Bonita told me it would work out one way or another, as long as I just let it go. And she was right.

That's all I have to say. I just had to share how nice it is to have someone (random or not) looking out for you and telling you to let the chips fall.

Monday wasn't so bad afterall.

Inauguration stories to come.