Gilda

I wrote this up for the being more social thread, but it has little to do with being social, so this seemed a better place for it.

I got a check from my old job back in California, unused retirement contribution. We decided to splurge and go get me some new blouses now that my cast is off and I can fit my arm through tighter sleeves again. While Grace is showering, I hop in the car and head for the bank branch nearest us. The lobby is closed on Saturdays, but there's a sign saying the drive through is open. I'd never used the drive through at a bank, so I didn't know how it worked, and I was nervous that I'd do it wrong and screw things up. But I said screw it, there are probably instructions written there, and pulled around to the drivethrough lane. I get up to the front, and stop to read the instructions for the little tube thingy, and it seems clear, but I want to make sure, so I read it a second time so I'm not going to make any mistakes. The gay behind me shouts and honks, so I grab it and put my check and deposit slip into the tube, and put it in the little alcove. I was flustered from the guy behind me honking, and forgot to push the little button to send it, and he honked and yelled again. I figure out what's wrong, but by this time, I'm thinking I need to double check, and while I'm doing that, the guy behind me honks a loud one, then backs up and pulls into the next row beside me, rolls down his window and yells, "Jesus Christ, lady, how stupid can you be? You'd think this was your first time. Put the tube in the hole. You know how to do that, don't you? Put the tube in the hole"

Well, dammit, it was my first time! I mean, you have to expect that sometimes you're going to run into somebody doing something for the first time and needing to read the instructiions. I got so upset I just drove away. I'm easily intimidated by large men yelling at me.

As I was pulling out, I realized I still had the little plastic tube with me, so I circled back around and put it back. I really, really wanted to just go home, but I didn't want anyone to get there and not be able to use it, so I at least went back around. As I was going back around, I saw the slot I'd used had a car in it, and the guy in that car had to get out and go around to the outside, unused lane and get the tube thingy from there. Canister--it's called a canister. So I pulled into that last pass-through lane, jumped out and put the cannister into the machine, then quickly got in my car and drove off. Fortunately, nobody was using that lane when I went back to get my check and deposit slip back out of the canister.

I'm never going back there again, but at least I did try that once.

Hmmm. I'm reading this and wondering what it has to do with socializing. Nothing, it seems. I'm going to cut and paste this into its own thread somewhere.

The idiot in the title, by the way, was me.

Gilda

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Bill O'Rights

I don't see it that way, and I really don't know why you do. All you're really guilty of is letting yourself get flustered by an impatient jackass. If your antagonist was in that much of a hurry...perhaps he should've left the house a little earlier? Or, if he so stressed out, perhaps he needs work on "putting the tube in the hole" a little more often, himself. Perhaps it might help him to mellow out a little.

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Fob_Magi

don't worry about it.. I have been guilty of changing lanes to get around a slow person.. but I nevr yell or honk, I don't condone that kind of behaviour at all... When somebody honks at me or yells and I'm not doing anything wrong I just stop and wait for them to leave... or if possible I go as far out of my way to inconvenience them as possible... its ok to be in a hurry... not ok to be an ass about it...

dont worry bout going back next time, just dont worry about it and it wont be an issue.

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Whoever cannot take care of himself without that law is both.
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Such is the Rule of Honor.

cyrnel

Muttering to self maybe, but honking and yelling in a bank lineup? I've never seen more than the occassional reminder toot even in the Bay Area. Someone had too much caffeine. They often lie in wait for people who try things for the first time. Really, you were his Karma for being too wound up.

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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

Charlatan

Please. You weren't even close to being an idiot.

The guy was an impatient ass. What you should have done was flip him the bird and told him where to stick it.

Conversely, you could have just ignored him and focused on your task. When he pulled up along side, I would have smiled sweetly and said, "Why yes. This is my first time using this machine. Perhaps you could help me, unless you'd like to go back to honking and yelling".

Then I would have gone back to what you were doing.

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- Old Man Luedecke

Poppinjay

I'm very impatient at the bank, but as many times as I've been behind somebody apparently trying to do a hostile takeover of the bank through the ATM, I'd never honk and yell.

There's a proper etiquette for reply in cases such as this. I believe Miss Manners recommends saying, "suck ass, little dick."

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I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet

maleficent

you got it backwards-- he was the idiot.. not you... not even a little bit

though I must say
I must have a really dirty mind because that just cracked me up...

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BigBen

What would I have said?

"You close that fucking mouth of yours before I come over there and rip out your fucking throat with my bare hands! I should give you a fucking beating just to show you that your parents were doing it wrong your whole life! If you open your mouth or honk that horn again, I swear to all things holy that you will pick up your teeth with broken fingers tomorrow when you wake up."

Gilda, bless your heart. You are a beautiful lady with too much going for her. Let us rude, inconsiderate assholes in the world fight amongst ourselves, while you stay just the way you are.

I would not foresake convenience just because you had a bad first time experience. The most perfect person in the world says "I'll try anything twice..."

And by the way, I helped a little old lady (85, 90?) use a bank machine for her first time. It was a little cute, and she thanked me very much. That was waaay better than getting upset because she was taking too long. I'm not comparing you to a little old lady, Gilda ( ); I am just drawing a parallel to illustrate what one should do in a similar situation.

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Hey, if you are impressed with my memorizing pi to 10 digits, you should see the size of my penis.

Gilda

Well, next time I'll make sure I have Sissy or Grace with me. That way they can tell me what to do and I won't get as flustered.

Or maybe not. That still hasn't helped much with the left turn thing. The access road from our house ends up on a major thoroughfare, and to go towards town, you have to make a left turn across two lanes of traffic. I require a very large gap before I feel safe turning, moreso since my accident, and it sometimes takes a few minutes before the gap is big enough going both ways. I get honked at a lot. Sissy says I'm waiting for a space three times as big as I need, and Grace concurs. The difference is that Grace has given up and lets me do it my way, while Sissy thinks she's "helping" me by pointing out all the gaps I could have turned into. Anyway, I tend to just turn right, pull up to the light and make a U-turn. Drives Sissy nuts.

Different situation here, though, so I think the next time I need to go to the drivethrough, which would be on a Saturday morning because the lobby is always open on other days.

[sigh] How did I get to be 30 and not know how stuff like this works? This is the kind of stuff thats just supposed to come through osmosis as you grow up.

If the university ever pays me, I might try it again just for practice. I definitely like the lobby better, though.

Gilda

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feelgood

I ain't from United States but what the hell is this "tube" you speak of that you have to put in?

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Coppertop

Anyone else get a chuckle from this?

I wouldn't sweat it Gilda, that person was just being an ass. People like this only have as much power over you as you give them. I would have taken extra time just to piss them off some more - but then again, I'm an ass in my own way I suppose.

I look at it this way - will this incident matter in 5 minutes? 30? Tomorrow? Next month? Will it even still be in your memory? No? Then it's not worth worrying about.

SirLance

Get in line, pal.

Gilda, everyone has trouble using pneumatic cannisters their first time, don't worry about it. At least you were paying attention and trying to be considerate of those around you. Obviously, he wasn't.

Like they say, good manners don't cost nothing, do they? He didn't need to be so rude. Next time you go to the drive through, come to Arizona and get me first. I'll make sure no one bothers you. Promise.

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noodle

Me, too!

Gilda, pay this idiot no mind. We've all had to figure out how to get it right the first time. It's like the fool that honks because you're driving too slow, flys around you in the left lane and when you pull up at the next stoplight, he's four cars back in the other lane. Karma's a bitch.

It sound like given all the crap you had to deal with, you did just fine.

__________________

Gilda

It's a vacuum tube. You put your stuff in a plastic cannister, put the canister into a plastic tube, and it's sucked through the tubing to the teller inside the bank. I'd seen it done as a kid, but I've never done it myself (and still haven't) because I don't know how (and still don't).

I probably shouldn't have tried this while I'm still doing everything one handed. My left hand being out of commission made everything take three times as long as it was, without reading the instructions.

I think I send off the "timid" vibe even from nice shiny new muscle car.

Gilda

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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

snowy

Gilda...you weren't being stupid. He was being stupid. Yet I understand your position. I also tend to get flustered in situations like that where I'm doing something new and uncomfortable. But I also have a REALLY venomous tongue, and probably would've torn the jackass to shreds with it. But I would have driven away extremely upset, probably forgotten something, etc. Just the other day at work I got into a confrontation with a client, and spent the next twenty minutes shaking from it. Urgggh.

As for your turn preference...I would probably do the same. Two years ago I got into an accident while trying to cross a busy street here where I live in my truck. I never use that intersection any more, and never try to cross that street in my car. You're the driver; it's your choice.

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Toaster126

Go back there and try it again.

Why would you never go there again? That's silly. Who are you afraid of? The strangers you will never see again and don't\shouldn't care about or the tellers whose job description includes helping you?

It's certainly not something important enough to worry about.

As far as the driving thing, well, I'm sure the others are right that you could have turned safely in the spaces in traffic, but if you think something is going to happen if you do, there really aren't a lot of options for you. Either turn correctly, or do it your way and deal with the comments.

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fresnelly

I know I'm confused by the description of this bank machine. All of the drive-thru ATM's I've ever used are the standard models at window height. I'd pretty clueless myself if faced with some archaic pressure tube delivery system.

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spindles

I think the only drive thrus we have here dispense food

I'm with every one else - this guy was an ass.

edit - and you shouldn't stop doing things because of ass holes - otherwise, you will end up doing nothing...

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Gilda

It's not an ATM. I was making a deposit, so I needed an actual teller, not an ATM. It's a delivery system for transporting your stuff from one place to another, in this case, to a human teller inside the bank. Some older buildings in NYC were built with pnuematic delivery systems for sending messages from one section to another.

Here's a common bank version:



Gilda

__________________
I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

Gilda

Worry is my middle name. Well, actually, it's Marie, but you get the point.

Tellers don't bother me, as I actually prefer doing my business with them. That's an interaction I understand the rules for, so I'm comfortable with it.

But nope, not doing that by myself again. I'd anticipated that not knowing how it worked might make it turn out badly, and I was correct. It would be foolish of me not to learn from that experience and repeat my mistake.

Gilda

__________________
I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

Toaster126

Fuck me, I need to stay out of these threads...

Well, hey, if everything is working out exactly how you want it, why do I keep seeing your posts asking for advice and input? Maybe the trains of thought you are having aren't the most condusive for personal growth. Just because you try something new doesn't mean it will automatically work out perfectly every time.

The first time I used a vaccum tube I was pretty slow about it. The person behind me honked a couple of times. I didn't give a shit, I did what I needed to do, and went on with my buisness.

You can only grow so far without challenging yourself and failing. The difference is that you need to pick yourself up and do it again. Trying once and failing isn't productive, because it's only reinforcing your preconceived notion that you can't do things. So keep trying things, and when you can do them it the whole situation will seem as silly to you as it does to me.

It's only "foolish" if you decide the lesson here is not to try and leave your little comfort zone. The lesson is that when we stretch ourselves, we need to accept the possibility that we won't succeed the first attempt, but to dust ourselves off and try again.

__________________
"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me." (Ayn Rand)
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (M. Scott Peck)

DJ Happy

Through the course of this thread I forgot that what you had attempted to do was use a drive-through bank teller and was not open heart surgery through the power of touch alone.

fresnelly

Wow, now I'm even more confused. I'm sure I could figure it out, but I've never seen anything like that. Why a bank would use such a complicated system, rather than a regular model that accepts envelopes through a slot is beyond me. I can't decide if this is either antiquated or futuristic.

On a somewhat related note, we had a tragic incident of road rage here in Toronto over the weekend. A man waiting in line at a Drive-thru ATM became so irate that the commotion was noticed by a nearby pair of mounted policemen. It's not clear what transpired, but he peeled out of line, did a U-turn and hit one of the Officers and his horse. The Officer suffered some broken bones, and the horse had to be put down. Just awful.

When you do go back, maybe go early in the morning or later at night when there isn't any traffic. This is how I learned to drive in the maze of downtown one-way streets and on the highway. Having little traffic and nobody in a rush to get to work around you, removed the bulk of the pressure.

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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life

Sweetpea

on a side note. i've never used the drive through either Gilda... and i'm 24 i just like to go inside *shrug*

and you're not an idiot.

and that fucker that yelled at you... what kind of person just yells at someone like that? geeze...

sweetpea

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n0nsensical

I think because it allows one teller to service multiple transactions of people in the drive-through.. we have the drive-through down to a science, A SCIENCE! But yeah, I've always made my deposits at an ATM except when I didn't have a deposit slip.. and I would be hard pressed to try using this as well..

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Sweetpea

it's not my place to comment on anything you said

however Toast, i will note... this line gave me a giggle

sweetpea

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raeanna74

If it's any consolation - I still screw it up.

I prefer to use the drive through because it's easier than dragging 2 or more kids into the bank with me. I can just leave them strapped in. I have this bad habit of, after I'm finished and I put the tube canister on the slot I either put it too far in (if it's the kind where you roll it into the tube in back) or pushing the button to suck it up through the tube. I'm sure more than one teller has gotten it, opened it and gone "What??!" before realizing I was driving away and had sent her an empty canister. Then depending on how quickly she sends it back the next person in line ends up with no canister to fill at the moment. Somewhat minor I'm sure.

If I'd been a customer there I would have wanted to tell the guy to get off your back for ya.

Fresnelly - this system is designed so that there can be multiple drive throughs side-by-side working at the same time without tellers being out 'in' each booth like toll booths. I have seen a couple banks with smaller booths outside the bank so they can have more than one drive through. This way they have access to the interior of the bank. It does puzzle me though when they have more than 2 drive throughs open when they only have 2 tellers working. Seems I'd get more confused as a teller getting more than one customer at once.

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My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

Gilda

I'm aware of that. I make posts like these to explore how I'm dealing with new situations. Sometimes things turn out well in the end, as with my TA, and sometimes they don't, as with this one. Sometimes I don't deal with the situation as well as I should. Writing about it, good or bad, helps me to explore the situation. Just because I've decided not to try it again without Sissy or Grace there for support doesn't mean that I've given up completely. And even if I have, that doesn't mean I didn't learn anything from this encounter or that I can't do that through discussion.

Good for you. I mean that without any sarcasm or irony. I wish I had the strength of character to not let stuff like that get to me.

I am trying new things, on a pretty consistent basis. This one was a failure, and I thought it would be helpful to examine why. Should I only post about successes?

I've been doing that, again and again. I've been to four parties in the last four months, none of which I enjoyed. I don't anticipate that I'll ever enjoy a party, but I keep going because not doing so might be bad for my career.

Deciding to go back with someone there with me to show me how it works and provide a little insulation from impatient people behind me instead of alone is hardly giving up, it's just taking a different approach.

Gilda

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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

Gilda

DJHappy: I realize it isn't something that's difficult for most people to do. I admire people for whom the mechanical stuff comes easily, like Grace. This was my first time doing this, I was nervous, doing it one-handed, and had someone honking and yelling at me. That's not an ideal situation in which to learn a new skill, don't you think?

Reanna: Thank you. I don't know why stuff like this bothers me so much, but hearing that I'm not the only one who has trouble with does help a little bit.

If I need to go make a deposit on a Saturday again, and have Grace or Sissy available to go with me, I'll try again.

Gilda

__________________
I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

shakran

Gilda, after reading this, and several other posts that you've made, I don't really think TA's or pneumatic banking is your problem. You aren't confident enough in yourself girl!

That's why people like the jerk behind you at the bank can get to you. Obviously impressions garnered over the internet can only go so far, but you're pretty consistant in giving the impression of an intelligent woman who doesn't need to work herself into a dither about what other people think. If he wants to yell, hell let him yell. Maybe he'll feel better. Maybe he'll have a heart attack. Either way, it's not gonna impact your life one iota.

Seems to me that trying new things isn't really the problem with you - you've shown you're willing to do that, and you're a college professor which is not by any stretch of the imagination an easy job (if you do it right, which you seem to). So you're obviously a capable person. You just need confidence builders.

This might sound like its coming out of left field, but have you considered (after your arm's better) taking a martial arts class? Beyond the good exercise and the delightful fun of hitting objects while wearing pajamas, very few martial artists lack confidence. It's one hell of a self esteem booster.

Gilda

You're right. I lack self-confidence in certain situations. I'm working on it, but not making much progress so far.

It's been suggested before. I'm not a fan of hitting and throwing or being hit or thrown. Martial arts would be a poor choice for me.

Thank you for the suggestion.

Gilda

__________________
I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

Astrocloud

I always prefered the ATM to those tube things.

Toaster126

Aha! I have it. Just carry one of those stupidly huge handguns like a .357 Magnum in your purse. Then, whenever someone gives you shit at the autotellers, just calmly reach into the purse, take out the gun, point it at their face, and grin that "are-you-sure-you-want-to-be-rude-to-me" grin. I'm confident no one will fuck with you anymore.

Plus, getting into the police chase afterwards would help you with your driving fears.

__________________
"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me." (Ayn Rand)
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (M. Scott Peck)

Poppinjay

I didn’t start using the tubes until I was 30. And I did stupid shit. There was a button that said, “Press Button To Talk To Teller”. So, the teller said hello through the little speaker. I pressed the button to talk back, and she said, “STOP PRESSING THE BUTTON, IT’S ONLY TO CALL THE TELLER!”.

Dumb shits. Label it properly then.

I only resigned to using them frequently because it was just so convenient. Now I don’t go to the bank at all. My only contact with the bank is through the ATM.

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I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet

fresnelly

Wait, so these contraptions connect you to a live teller? Does the teller process things by hand, and then send you stuff back through the tubes?

*Shakes fist at car honking from behind*

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Charlatan

Drive through culture confuses me. Why can't people just get out of their cars?

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- Old Man Luedecke

cyrnel

It's raining/snowing/hailing/too cold/too bright.
Still keeping Mazie's egg warm.
They might escape.
They might get in.
Forgot my pants.
It's easier to get away.
Teller can't see my bed-head from the distance.
Bank serves tasty, bone-shaped treats at the drive-through.
...

__________________
There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

Jinn

I really don't want to steal this thread from a dicussion about your drive-through experience, but its a thing I've been wanting to mention in all of these threads.

As people above have said, you're an incredibly intelligent person (and a good writer, too) but you really have a confidence issue. Its the very same issue I see in so many people, and --imagine this-- they all say they're working on it, but not making much progress.

My best advice that I've ever given to someone regarding a confidence issue was that they were classifying it wrong. Most things in life are stepA to stepB to stepC to completion. In this way, as long as you're working on A, and then B, and then C, you'll eventually get there. Confidence is not this way. If you know anything about state machines, you just start in state C. "What, just CHOOSE to be confident? Yea right." That's PRECISELY what I'm proposing. Confidence is not an A->B->C sorta thing. It's a C sorta thing. By being C, A and B (the preconditions) are automatically met. So, today.. tell yourself you're confident. You are. Tell yourself you're confident. You are. It's not a process of "gaining" confidence. It's a process of BEING confident and acting accordingly. Stop dilly-dallying

And before you sputter and tell me that it's just not possible, this is coming from someone who, less than 2 years ago, had no confidence. None. I did everything wrong, I was ugly and stupid. You won't hear any of those words come out of my mouth today. One day, I just said; GOD DAMNIT I WANT TO BE CONFIDENT. And I was. And I lived from that day on. You gotta want to be confident NOW, not later.

Yea, so I don't know how you'll take this, but I don't mean to offend. I felt like it merited being saying and I hope that somehow, someday, you'll look back and realize I'm right.

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n0nsensical

Yes.567890

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"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded." --Abraham Lincoln

Gilda

I went back this afternoon with my January and February paychecks (yay! I finally got paid) and my refund. Sissy was with me for moral support and to yell back at any idiots who got impatient with me. She'd be about as dangerous as a fluffy little kitten in a fight, but she projects menace really well, something Calpernia Addams called in her book a "don't make be bother with kickin' your ass" attitude.

So we go to the drive through, and I have the deposit slip filled out and ready to go, all three checks listed, and I pull up to the tube. I take the tube out having to twist around to get my right hand out and in the process bang my left forearm on the door frame which hurt like hell.

Sissy wouldn't open it for me, so I had to pull my skirt up a little bit to clamp it between my thighs and hold it tight while I unlatched the top and turned it aside, causing Sissy to giggle and how silly I looked. I put my checks and deposit slip into the tube, twist it shut, then twist back towards the window again, my skirt riding up ever further in the process, leaving it up around my hips. I put the canister in the tube, press the button, and off it goes.

The teller calls back a second later, saying she'll need my ID, and sends the canister back. While I'm waiting, I ask Sissy why she didn't tell me that, and she answers, "It's more fun this way. Besides, you'll learn better if you figure it out for yourself. You're the teacher, you should know that." Side note: Experiential learning has been shown to been more effective in learning certain aspects of science or mathematics, but direct instruction is generally a more effective means of initial instruction.

I repeat the process, complete with banging my left arm and my skirt riding up higher with each gyration, putting it now up around my waist, Sissy by this point laughing aloud and actively mocking me with every turn. The teller tells me "Just a moment," and comes back and tells me my deposit is going to require manager approval, so I'll need to come around and go inside the bank. I drive around and find a parking space, and attempt to back into it, taking about sixty-leven attempts because I can't back into a space to save my life. I get the car in, and find that I'm too close to the car next to me to open my door and get out, so I have to start it up, pull out, and come back in two feet to right. Sissy, fortunately, was kind enough to point out after I'd done it wrong three times that I was doing it backwards, and told me when to turn and how much to get the car back in to the center of the space, though it took some time because she had to do so in between laughing spasms. Keep in mind that all this time, my skirt was up around my waist, and I'd have given any passsersby quite a show had they happened to glance inside the car.

I finally get it parked, and have enough space to get out. I open the door, the door providing cover so that I could pull my skirt back down around my thighs where it belonged. Sissy was laughing so hard tears were running down her face and she was hiccupping in between some very insincere sounding words of support.

I get inside, go to the manager, get my deposit approved, get my reciept, and am told that it would probably be better in the future if I were to come inside and deal with a teller when depositing my paycheck.

I concurred.

When I got back out to the car, Sissy was on the phone telling Grace the whole story in great detail, not making any attempt whatsoever at concealing her amusement. She tells me Grace has something to say to me, and holds out the phone. Grace is having a hearty laugh at my expense.

We drive home, and get there just in time to walk in and hear Grace repeating the story to Lovey, the two of them shrieking with laughter.

I didn't find the incident nearly as amusing as they did.

It was, all things considered, a success, as I was able to actually do all of the steps at the drive through properly, and having had this success, I feel no need to repeat it.

Sissy and Grace had a brief argument over who would get to tell Boris the story.

Gilda

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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

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