The customer is always right or Death to Self

My head is killing me. It is a pressure headache. But the Lord brings to my remembrance that the olive is pressed in order to bring forth oil.

My friend told me about a sushi restaurant where there is a large tank full of fish. When the people want sushi, they pull a fish out of the tank and slice a thin piece of flesh off and serve it to the people and put the fish back in the tank. I feel like one of those fish.

I work at a place that the customers complain about everything. I have never worked at a place where practically everyone that comes to the counter has some negative thing to say. They all want to hold me personally responsible for their unhappiness. Some things I can change for them, and some I can't, but that does not stop them from going on and on about it. Some of the complaints are so ridiculous that I feel like my head will explode. I find myself getting angry and resentful - like I am being set up. In a way, I am being set up.

Being an overcomer means having situations in life that have to be overcome. This is one. When Jesus was falsely accused - he answered not again. Jesus never got angry when people said bad things to him, only when the people were hard - hearted or greedy in the temple - did he get angry. When they were crucifying him - he prayed to the Father to forgive them.

Yesterday when I was going through these trials, The Elm Street Chapel had this post:
Hating the Garment Spotted by the Flesh Oh yes. How I hate the garment spotted by the flesh.

So I keep praying for this horrible place. I pray for the customers, that they will have a pleasant stay and find nothing to complain about. I pray for my co-worker who told me that the customer is always right, (and she was right to tell me that - it exposed another weakness of mine that needs to be overcome - my own pride again.) I pray for the owners and the hotel. I pray for myself, that I will be counted worthy to escape the wrath to come, that I can be perfected, even if it hurts now, because eternity is coming. I want to be an overcomer.

Thank you Lord for the pressure and the trials in my life. Thank you for your grace and mercy to see me through. In Jesus name, AMEN.

Pray for our alternative news guys!

James Corbett of the Corbett Report has been getting hacked for the last couple days. Every time I go to his site weird things happen. So pray for him to be protected against those who would try to stop the truth from getting out to the rest of us.

Also pray for James Evan Pilato as he works hard going through all the crazy news out there. Here is one of his recent you tube videos:



You can hear all of his radio show 169 here.

I can't decide...

Joseph Herrin at the Parables blog had a post about Wayward Sons by Kansas. I can't decide which one is the best. They are all good in their own right.

My Life as a Parady - Part 3 - The Graveyard shift

Yes - I've worked the morning 7am-3pm shift, the evening 3pm-11pm shift, and now the graveyard shift 11pm-7am, all in one week. Have I had a day off yet? No! Thank you for asking. This is day seven. I could go on and on with the stories - but I don't want to complain. In fact, I believe that is the lesson to learn here.

And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and [that] ye may have lack of nothing. 1Th 4:11-12

Especially the quiet part:

But [let it be] the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, [even the ornament] of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 1Pe 3:4

I had lots of interviews - but this crazy place was the job I was hired for. The Lord knows what He is doing and His ways are perfect always. I spend a good portion of my day praying for this place - which is one of the reasons I believe the Lord has placed me here. Because Lord knows, this place needs it!

Corbett report - Economics 101

My life as a Parady - Part 2 - Breakfast Bar revisited

The Lord has given me victory over the breakfast bar! Having learned from the previous day, I was able to anticipate the needs of the breakfast bar and have everything ready ahead of time. Things were much smoother. But even better - I will be working the 3-11pm shift thus avoiding the dreaded breakfast bar altogether. Thank you Lord!

My Life as a Parady - Part 1 - The Breakfast Bar

Today is day two at my new job. I guess I've been there long enough to work a Saturday morning continental breakfast all by myself. It is amazing to me how the harder you work the less you get paid! Not that I miss my $18.50 an hour job where I worked 20 minutes in the morning and surfed the net all day. I'm sure I could run a company into the ground for $100 million, but I digress. I want to preface the rest of this blogpost with a disclaimer that nothing I am about to say is in any way complaining. I am not complaining - just relating to my reading public the days events.

My loving heavenly Father in His infinate wisdom, mercy and grace has been imparting to me amazing spiritual truths in this journey. Sometimes lessons can only be learned under certain special conditions. The hard way, for example.

So mad hungry hordes descended on the breakfast bar and I scrambled eggs and made orange juice with hot water because the orange juice was frozen and tried to put on the ridiculous plastic gloves that were too small for my hands, so I just had to give up and touch the food. I opened cupboards and searched for plastic silverware but couldn't find any and the phone would ring so I would go around to answer it and it was a housekeeper saying, "Work today?" and I would say, "Heck ya! Get in here!" Check a couple people out and have people come up to the counter to say that we are out of waffle batter and we need more coffee and that the orange juice is out (AGAIN?!) Two housekeepers show up but they do not speak any english and I say I need you to go to the storage basement in the next building and get plastic silverware and I need towels in this room. The bell at the front counter rings and the man there says, "I was just wondering if you knew where the little people live?" and I say, "the little people?" He says, "Yes, you know, the midgets, or dwarves?" I say, with a smile on my face, "No. I'm sorry, I don't know where the little people live." (although now that I am sitting in my bedroom and everything is quiet, I do know where the little people live. - I'm sure he was talking about the people on the show, "Little people - Big World." who live in Hillsboro I think. Why didn't he say that?!) so he said, "Ok, I was just wondering." and he leaves and I say to the woman behind him "Do you know where the little people live?" We kindof had a laugh over that one. (grrr now!)

The maid comes back with towels but says that there is not any silverware and then the bosses come in and help and it is a little better. It is 9am.

Later when the breakfast bar is over and the hordes have gone and the dishes are all washed and put away it is quiet. Then the bosses get into a huge gnarly argument in Mandarin (I think) and I leave the room - and the girl boss is yelling at her husband in another language - and she stops to say in a really nice voice to me - to put something away for her. Yesterday the girl boss told me that American culture was very different and that if I notice something is American culture to tell her. They both leave again and I am alone and I decide to have a little cry (not a big one because I dont have time for it, but just a little one.)

The Lord puts it on my heart to pray for the bosses, especially the girl boss who I was assuming was unhappy with me because she was gesturing in my direction when she was yelling at her husband. She comes back in and I say, "In American culture - when a husband and a wife start to argue, everyone else has to leave the room." I ask her if she is ok and she starts to cry and tells me that some friend called her in the middle of the night with a big problem that they put on her shoulders and she told me that the argument with her husband was not about me but about something little and dumb - the way that old married couples can do sometimes (I wouldnt know of course). I was so glad that I had prayed for her - and I think it meant alot to her just to have me understand how hard it is to learn American culture sometimes.

But the real lesson was that not everything is as it seems. I am going to be a prayer warrior on this place - praying and lifting up my bosses and co-workers and the hotel - that it will be filled and prosperous. That the bosses and the place will be at peace. I'll write more on that later.

Reminds me of a joke, Do you know where the litte people live? No, but if you hum a few bars...